The Odyssey of a Hero: Link's Awakening
by ShadowNyx3
Summary: Stranded on a mysterious island after a terrible sea storm, a young man named Link is forced to battle the mysteries of his past by weighing a new found love with his lifelong destiny.  A retold and expanded story of Link's Awakening
1. Prologue

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Prologue

The air is calm as its tranquil winds carry the purified silence of the cool autumn afternoon across the shining blue waters of the Great Sea. The sun is bright and full at the peak of the cloudless sky, but its warm rays are shielded behind the chilled air.

Upon the deck of the Saint Hylia, a young man wearing a green tunic and cap over a white shirt and pants leans over the ship's oak railing, gazing out at the thin blue horizon. Different crew members bustle around the deck behind the young man, almost all of them rugged scallywags with unkempt beards and loose tattered rags for clothing. Yet for the young man, the noise of crates sliding and brushes scrubbing across the wooden deck are lost to the smooth gusts of wind blowing his bright blonde hair over his bold blue eyes.

"Link! You may jus' be the Hero of Hyrule, but that don' mean you aint a crew member on this 'ere ship. Get over 'ere and pick up a broom!"

The booming voice nearly tips Link over the railing, but he gains his balance and turns to face the demands. The voice is that of the Captain, a tall, thin man with a shining bald skull, deep, dark and lonely eyes, and a frightening hook screwed in place of his missing right hand. The Captain certainly did not look of a man with such a bellowing disposition, and to anyone who ever asked him about it, they were answered with words as empty as his eyes; words that kept the veil around his heart completely shut.

Link knew how the Captain operated, yet he could not avoid turning his eyes dark with disgust, for his words were so typical of the man he was required to call "Captain." Even for the four years they had been away from Hyrule, he hadn't remotely changed his methods. They were beginning to eat away at Link, for there were only so many demands he could take.

"Captain, you have five men swabbing the decks already" says Link.

The Captain scratched his head, "I suppose I do…What else could I have yeh be doin'?"

"Well, you have two men in the crow's nest, four men down below in the kitchen, five men sorting the supplies, three men trying to figure out where we are, and six men tying down ropes while praying to the goddesses that their efforts might just put some wind in the sails." Link sarcastically shrugs his shoulders. "There's just no room left for me."

"That be cucco fodder my boy! There's always somthin' to do on this ship!"

"How about you let me stay here at the bow, where it's quiet, and be completely rested in case we get attacked by a swarm of sea monsters, which I'm quite surprised hasn't happened yet with the _excellent _team of navigators we have on this ship."

The Captain's empty face turns soft with sadness and his stance wearily slinks downward. "Ah, you're just like the Princess boy; nothin's ever the way you expect it to be." The Captain regains his stature, and starts to stride away. "This voyage has changed us all…but not you."

Link watches the Captain with wide eyes as he leaves. Why did they make him take the journey then?

Link angrily turns back to the sea. With his face trembling in anger, Link violently raises his fists and slams the railing. As the pain strikes up his arm, the tension in his face evaporates and Link falls down to sit against the railing. Link calmly surveys his hands for damage catching a glimpse of the back of his left hand. His hands begin to tremble. The mark of the golden triangle, imprinted on his skin, sparkles in the sunlight.

Link sighs. The golden triangle was the reason he was sent away those four years ago; and perhaps it is the reason why the Captain can no longer look Link in the eye with the confident stare he's recognized for. Perhaps his journey had taught him nothing. Perhaps the legend of the Hero of Hyrule had chosen him incorrectly. Surely he could not be the savior meant to banish evil from the realm of Hyrule.

As the sun falls closer to the horizon, it turns the sky from blue to a streak of red and yellow.

"Yeah, you're right. Four years and I haven't changed at all" Link says.

The colors turn from red to black. The call for dinner rings out as the sun fades away behind the edge of the now black sea, and Link releases his grim focus from the horizon, returning to join the Captain's raucous crew.

* * *

><p>Four years ago, life was simple for Link. His days were spent either playing in the castle with Princess Zelda, or causing trouble in the marketplace. Entire days would be spent in the immense gardens of the castle; the two of them searching for secret passages hidden in the foliage, or trying to find one another in the dense maze of floral bouquets. Sometimes at night, the two would sneak out into the busy market streets, lit ablaze with festive torchlight. Link would distract the shop owners with irrelevant stories of how he took down a particular monster, leaving Zelda to lift various treats for the two to enjoy. Regardless of what adventures the two were getting themselves in, they both, but especially Link, were innocent; free from the bonds of responsibility.<p>

Though, life was not without trouble for Link. For every day he lived free of worry or doubt, he was constantly reminded of his eventual destiny by the mark on his hand; the mark that everyone around him took wonder in. From an abandoned infant left on the steps of the castle, the mark gave him his privilege to be fed, clothed, and sheltered in a place far removed from the fate of a normal orphan. It gave him the privilege of being looked upon as the pride of the kingdom, always being put a step above the rest, and never the focus of scorn or punishment.

But it all changed the day he turned fourteen years old. It was the day the scholars told him of, but the day he thought would remain hidden behind his childhood innocence for eternity.

Awoken in the dead of night by the lonely flame of a torch, Link was led out of his room in silence by the Royal Chancellor. The Chancellor tugged at Link's arm as he hastily pulled him through the pitch black halls of the castle.

The Chancellor was silent, and Link was much too afraid to say anything to him in fear of the angry response he might get from his intimidating teacher. He wanted to ask one final time why he couldn't say goodbye to the Princess, but his fear overpowered his curiosity.

Link was drug out to the empty desolate streets. As he passed by the unlit streetlights and the shadowy windows and doors, Link felt as if he might never see these places again. Even in their quiet, sleepy state, these houses and shops were his playground, his childhood, which seemed to all but fade away as he drew further and further away from the city.

Finally Link reached the cold, foggy docks of the Hyrule Castletown harbor. Most of the ships in the harbor bobbed gently in the calm morning waters, but one was surrounded by the gloomy flares of torchlight. The Chancellor released his grip on Link at the edge of the dock. "Your vessel is there," the Chancellor wheezed as he raised a finger to point at the active ship, "And so I must leave you. Good luck."

The Chancellor turned his back to Link with no hesitation, and walked away from the lonely confused boy. Link watched the Chancellor until he lost sight of him behind the fog. As a tear rushed down his cheek, Link felt a cold hand grasp his shoulder.

"Ye best not cry my boy. I have no room fer tears on this ship." Link quickly turned to see where the words had come from. His eyes met with the Captain's. The empty eyes of the Captain turned Link's spine into a column of ice.

Frozen with fear, Link struggled to move as he boarded the vessel. Met by snarling stares from the crew of the Saint Hylia, Link knew that his life really was about to change forever.

* * *

><p>A crash of thunder jolts Link into jumping up from his cramped hammock in the bowels of the Saint Hylia. All of the other men are dead asleep in their beds. Another rumble of thunder rattles the nails in the ship's walls.<p>

Link sits up and drops his head into his hands. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he begins to shiver from the frozen embrace of the cabin's air.

A louder crackle of thunder instantaneously illuminates the room with several flashes of white light. Staring at the gaping crack in the ship's boards, Link spies several distant streaks of lightning.

The ship starts to rock back and forth with much more vigor than the typical night-time waves.

Suddenly a deafening explosion jerks the ship violently, knocking Link and many other crew members from their beds. Link immediately jumps to his feet and sprints to the stairs leading to the deck. Topside, the Captain and the current night watch are scrambling around, their shadows dancing in the flickering yellow light of the blazing fore-mast.

"Captain!" Link's call is drowned out by the screeching winds. Suddenly the sky opens and the deck is submerged in blistering rain. Link tries to run closer to the Captain, but slips on the flooding deck, hitting his head on a crate.

The pain pierces the back of his head, spreading over his skin like a web of sharp thorns. Link's eyes grow foggy. He can see more and more men rushing to the deck, grabbing whatever they can to stop the fire as it begins to devour the bow. Through the intense chaos, the Captain's thin figure continues directing the men with unyielding authority.

Link struggles to gain his balance, but falls forward scraping his bare chest against the rough deck boards, his head pounding with the added pain. He raises his head to look towards the Captain, but the fires have grown, completely engulfing the bow in a vicious fire storm that continues rage despite the downpour of water. Suddenly Link feels two hands grab him underneath his arms. Link is forcefully raised to his feet as his head swirls and his vision fades.

"Link! I'll be getting' you out of 'ere."

Link feels himself being held tightly as the wind and rain continue to barrage his face. His vision clears slightly and he is able to make out the Captain's face.

"Cap…tain…" Link weakly mutters.

The Captain carries Link to the railing of the ship. There is a thick wooden barrel caught between some debris. The Captain tears off the lid of the barrel and places Link inside.

"The journey don' end 'ere fer you Link. No matter what ye may think, nothin's been put to waste. I'll be seein' you again, my boy."

Link watches as the Captain lets loose a smirk. Link's eyes widen with surprise. He never knew the Captain could make that kind of face. Put at ease and unable to find the strength to speak, Link simply gives a smirk back, before the Captain seas the barrel shut. Link rolls inside the cramped space before being thrust against the side as he hears the crash of splashing water.

The screams of the men fade along with the crackling of flames. The chaos seems to drift away as the barrel bobs up and down in the raging waters. The cool interior of the barrel becomes almost serene. Soon, the booming thunder, howling winds, and piercing rain fade away into silence as Link slips far, far away from consciousness.


	2. Chapter 1: Arrival

Chapter One:

**Arrival**

"Zelda?" Link said, gazing directly into the princess's eyes.

The gardens of Hyrule Castle were alight with warm summer rays, and the wind carried the aroma of the many flowers which were lined up in perfect rows along the grassy floor and strung all around the marble columns erected across the garden.

Princess Zelda sat awkwardly on a stone bench with Link at her side. The slow winds flapped at her regal shawl, and blew her long light brown hair across her eyes. She made no effort to push the hair away, as she struggled to return Link's gaze.

"I know what will happen tomorrow," said Link.

"Yes, I know as well. You'll go away," Princess Zelda stared directly at the lilacs waving in the breeze at her feet, "why are you saying this now? We both knew the time would come."

"It's because I don't know what's going to happen," Link struck back almost immediately.

Zelda shifted a little in her seat. "But that's what's supposed to happen. We're not supposed to talk about it."

Link remained focused on Zelda's face with a stern expression. "I might never see you again…and you're going to go on today acting like nothing's going to change!"

Zelda instinctively braced herself at Link's outburst.

"I'm sorry," Link said softly.

Zelda finally turned to face Link directly, placing her hand on his leg. "No, I'm sorry. I've been caught up in everything I've been taught." Link loses his focus on her face, sulking towards the floor, but Zelda is quick to catch his cheek with her hand. "I'm not going to let the last day of our childhood end that way."

Link returned his eyes to Zelda's. "You have to tell me."

"Link..." Zelda dropped her hand to her knees, "alright."

As if he were holding back like a storm in a dark cloud, Link burst out everything that was in his mind: "Why haven't I been told of anything that's going to happen? Why is there no ceremony or anything for this? I'm supposed to be some great hero, but tomorrow everyone is just going to wake up and go about their daily lives as if I wasn't even born. Please, you have to tell me; why is this journey such a secret?"

Zelda kept calm throughout the barrage of questions, breathing deeply before giving her response. "It's because of what you might become."

Link's face twists in confusion. "What I could become? What does that mean?"

"You are not the first one that has been given the mark on your hand," Zelda explained, "I don't know the full history of our land, Link, but from what I have been taught, you are not the first boy named Link to have a piece of the Triforce on the back of his hand, nor am I the first girl named Zelda to be named Princess of Hyrule."

Link avoided asking any more questions, remaining focused on Zelda, silently pleading for more information. But Zelda could not go on. She returned to stare at the flowers, sighing deeply.

"I cannot tell you what this means for you. But please Link; know that you have an important journey ahead of you and by knowing what that journey might take from you…" Zelda stands up firmly, "you might abandon it."

Link had lost focus on the princess, staring blankly into space, contemplating her words.

As the two childhood friends remained lost in thought in the peaceful garden, a nearby door flung open with a loud bang. The Chancellor rushed out of the dark hallway and into the garden, looking around momentarily before spotting the two children. "Ah, there you are princess! You are late for your father's audience. It does not shine a good light on our kingdom when our visitors are treated to an absent princess, and besides that, Impa is about to kill me. Come now!"

The Chancellor quickly came to the princess's side, kneeling and holding out one of his skinny hands for her to take.

Zelda turned to look at Link, who was still lost in thought. "Link…I _will_ see you later," she said with a solemn face.

Link shifted to look at her. "Zelda, I'm not going to abandon you."

The Chancellor hastily raised his head to glare at Link after hearing his words. He turned to the princess with a crookedly raised eyebrow. "Princess, what, if I may ask, were you talking about with this boy?"

Zelda's eyes widened. "Nothing, nothing at all Chancellor. Now, I thought you said I was late?"

The Chancellor stood up, retaining his puzzled expression. "Of course my dear; tell your little friend goodbye, and come quickly." The Chancellor pulled at the princess's hand, forcing her to walk towards the garden door.

Zelda kept looking back at Link, and Link continued to stare back at Zelda until she faded away in the shadows of the door.

A chill ran down Link's spine. Suddenly he made a dash for the open door, trampling over flowers as he speedily cut through the garden. Reaching the door, Link burst through, but to his dismay, there was nothing on the other side, just complete darkness.

Link's feet give way, and he begins falling into a pitch black abyss void of life. Falling, falling, falling, the darkness remains eternal as Link falls far, far away from his dream.

* * *

><p>"Zelda!" Link springs up from a bed, sweating profusely and shivering from the chills running down his entire body. The world spins around him as his eyes attempt to adjust to the bright surroundings. The whirling white and tan streaks begin to collect and form a smooth white wall with a wooden frame along its edge.<p>

Link twitches his head around the room as his eyes begin to put the smeared room back into place. He rubs his eyes with his knuckles, finally restoring his sight.

The room is small, but it is filled with an assortment of lively items. Across the room is an iron stove, enclosed between two large wooden columns with cupboards cut into their robust mass. A small wooden table adorned with a glass pot holding two sunflowers and accompanied by two lonely chairs sits quietly next to the stove, cramped into a corner, but illuminated in the light of two windows draped with detailed floral patterns. A thick wooden door with a colorful glass pattern embedded in the center splits the wall behind the table.

Link continues to survey the room, rustling in the soft sheets of his simple bed. He noticed that there were only two beds, both far across from the quaint dining set up. Both beds were simple in design, with basic wooden frames that were absent of any decoration. Instead the beds were surrounded by a series of bookshelves completely filled with colorful tomes. What little space that remained in the center of the room was covered by a large burgundy rug that seemed hand-made.

Link's head had cleared by the time he finished inspecting the room. It was so quiet and lonely, he felt as though he was lost from the world he knew, passed on to the next life.

Before standing up he realizes that his tunic is nowhere in sight. Instead he is clothed in a pale green shirt with a wide open neck, and what seemed to be his own white pants.

Link swings his legs out off of the bed and strains to raise himself to his feet. The light in the room is so bright that he can't avoid stumbling as he regains his balance in the world.

If this place truly was the realm of the goddesses, he would find out as soon as he went out that door.

Slightly woozy, Link waddles his way to the door. The door seems so heavy, yet the knob is but a small piece of wood. Link places his hand on the knob. He takes a deep breath and cautiously opens the door.

Link is greeted by a rush of warm air, smelling of fruit and seawater. The light is even brighter outside as Link is forced to shield his eyes from the intense rays. Link slowly takes a few steps out of the room, letting the light fade behind his hand and the pain dissipate.

The light eventually dies down in Link's eyes and he is presented with a scene of unimaginable awe. From high above on a hillside, a sparkling blue ocean shines below in the distance under the sunlight. From the ocean, there is land; a beautiful landscape covered in the greenest plants he had ever seen; more colorful even than his own tunic.

The scene is right out of one of the Princess's many fairy tales, a tropical paradise so beautiful that it showed itself to the people of Hyrule only in books. Link, overcome with awe, slowly begins to shuffle away from the door.

Link notices the building he had just emerged from. It was a small house, in fact it was a really small house; it was only the one room he had been inside just a moment ago. Still, the house radiates a lot of tender care with its colorful tropical gardens and simple picket fence.

The surrounding houses seem just as loving. There are only a handful of them, but they all are small, simple, and decorated with unique tropical items.

As Link walks through the village, he begins to feel a sense of dread. Surely, he had passed on to the next world. This place is just too perfect to be real.

Link looks around. Apart from the smooth sound of the island wind and the occasional chirping of the birds or seagulls, the town is completely silent.

Link cups his hands around his mouth, "anybody there?"

He is answered only with a gust of wind that rustles the leaves of the nearby trees.

Taking a deep breath, Link continues his search through the village. He starts to walk into each of the nearby houses. To his surprise, each one had a vastly different interior than the others. One house was set up like a shop, with a large rack that had an assortment of items displayed on it. Another had a very awkward platform on which certain parts of it moved in different directions and carried along various objects in what seemed like a circuit. Certainly, these places were not normal houses, but regardless, Link could not find a soul inside any of them.

Link disappointedly trudges out from one last house that had nothing more than a simple bed inside. He sits down, defeated, and lets out a deep sigh. From down below on the beaches, Link spies the waves crashing along the shoreline. Perhaps he was alive, and only shipwrecked on this island. There was no way to find out. He could either sit here alone, and gaze out at sea for the first sign of outside life, or continue to explore his surroundings and pray that someone, anyone would find him.

Both options were doubtful. It would be easiest to take a leap from the hill. Link sighs again. Just before he is about to fall back to lay on the grass, Link catches something floating in from sea, but from so far away the unknown object is impossible to identify.

What could it be? Maybe it was from the Saint Hylia?

Link jumps to his feet and runs towards the edge of the hill. He could still see the object floating inland. Link runs along the edge of the hill, eventually finding a slope safe enough to travel down, his blonde hair waving wildly in the wind as he races down the hill towards the beach.

Arriving at the sandy shoreline of the island, Link loses his balance in the soft sand, tumbling forward and down to the edge of the water. He immediately recovers, ignoring the wet sand smeared all over his shirt.

Frantically, Link peers at the nearby water along the coastline until finally spotting the object as it washes to a stop a distance down the shore. Link's face begins to light up with hope, but it fades away as he gets closer to the object, discovering what it actually is.

"A palm leaf," Link sighs. Picking it up in his hands he angrily tosses it back out into the sea with a sharp cry.

The cry echoes against the concaved walls of rock behind him, bouncing back only to be swallowed by the sound of crashing waves.

Link falls to his knees, sinking into the wet sand. The Captain; he had lied to him. This _was_ the end of his journey. The past four years were all for nothing, and he would never know the kind of happiness he once knew inside the walls of Hyrule Castle.

Behind the continuous crashing of waves, Link hears something faint ring against the walls of the cliff. The sound grows louder as the waves recede. It appeared to be coming from further along the beach. Link slowly stands and walks towards a collection of rocks a short distance away.

Reaching the rocks, Link carefully steps around some of the small sharp rocks and prickly urchins hidden between the foamy seawater. The sound had grown louder, and began to ring in a peaceful harmonic tone.

Peering around the rocks, Link discovers a small cove, enclosed by rocks on all sides. There is a large rock in the center of them all, on top of which is a sight that stuns Link, freezing him in place.

There on the rock, is a girl, singing with a voice that had quieted the waves, calmed the winds, and lured the birds from their exclusive heights. She is clothed in a long light blue dress embroidered with a yellow and blue, wave-like pattern around the edges. Around her waist is a magenta ribbon, tied into a belt and left dangling at the side. Her bright red hair shines a radiant orange in the tropical sunlight along with the red petals of the hibiscus flower tied into her hair.

Link tries to move towards the girl, but he loses his senses to the blissful sound of her voice as she sings: "_Over land, over sea, rings out the song of wind. In our lives, and our hearts, it remains. Eternal and free, my heart will fly with marvelous wings; so please, if you believe, come now, fly with me."_

The last note of her song resonates within the cove, carrying the heart-warming melody up to the sky. The girl opens her peaceful amber eyes. "Oh!" she squeaks while lightly pressing her hand to her lips.

Link shakes his head to gather his senses, "Oh, I'm sorry."

The girl quickly hops up from her rock, taking Link by surprise. She runs up close to Link and inspects him. "Well, you seem to be just fine. That's great Link!"

Link's drops his mouth open and grabs the girl by her shoulders holding her away to examine her face. "What? Who are you? How do you know my name?"

The girl remains calm, cupping her hands over her mouth to try to keep from giggling.

"No, please don't laugh. I'm completely lost here. Tell me what's going on!" Link insists.

The girl stops her fit of laughter. She takes Link's hands from her shoulders and puts them at his side. "You don't remember anything, do you?"

Remember? Remember what? The storm? How could she know? "Well…of course I do, there was a terrible storm, I thought I was going to die, but then Captain, he…" Link looks away from the girl to think, "I don't remember what happened after that…But then I woke up in a strange house in a village with no people, and…and then I found you here."

The girl loses her smile. "Link, I don't think you're ready to get up…"

Link shouts at the girl, "why do you know my name? You still haven't told me!"

The girl takes a step back, cautiously watching Link with her now worried eyes.

Link sinks to his knees. "I'm sorry. Just please tell me if this is real; if you are real."

The girl kneels down in front of Link and stretches her arms out to embrace him. "Something terrible has happened to you, but you're going to be alright now."

At the touch of her embrace, Link felt all of his anxiety evaporate. For the first time in over four years, Link remembered what it felt like when someone took all his worries away. Moving his arms around the girl's waist to return her embrace, and sinking his tearful face into her shoulder, Link knew that everything was going to be all right.


	3. Chapter 2: Embrace

Chapter Two: 

**Embrace**

The connection shared between two people when embraced is an experience that holds no permanent grounds of emotion. The people who share such an embrace are oftentimes similar to one another; whether it is their appearance or age, yet, for every pair that as ever held one another in the other's arms, each bond retains its own special meaning by the composition of the hearts of those who share them. The heart within makes the embrace unique, and made eternally impossible to replicate.

As Link holds the strange, red-haired, girl tightly in his arms, he wonders what sort of heart lies within this girl. She was so angelic in appearance that it seemed inconceivable her heart were made of anything but purity. If anything were certain, it was that he did not deserve the comfort of someone so compassionate.

The afternoon sun yawns in the sky, starting its decent along the western sky. The rays from the weakening sun felt cool in the sea breeze. Link cannot bring himself to let go of her, feeling as if letting go would slip him away from the peace he had finally found.

But had he found peace? This moment was so perfect he dreaded the fact that he could ever lose it. There were still so many unanswered questions, and for all he knew, this was still just a dream; a dream that was so intoxicating, he felt like he could slip far away from it at any moment.

* * *

><p>It was winter in Hyrule. The trees were crooked and bare, covered by thick layers of snow and ice, and the streets were strung with festive decorations to celebrate the coming of the new year. It was Link and Zelda's favorite time of year. There was always so much to do; from playing in the snow to decorating the castle, and most of all, divulging in the glorious edible treats of the season.<p>

Yet there was one thing about this particular time of year the two children found most enjoyable. It was something new to the people of Hyrule that fortunately they could afford to do themselves: ice skating.

Zelda had snuck the two of them from the castle bringing him to a secret garden hidden in the valley of the great mountains behind the castle; a secret hideout of sorts, just for the two of them.

The garden was surrounded by tall, thick evergreen trees, creating the enclosed secretive atmosphere. Between the trees there was a small lake, which at that time of year was covered by a thick layer of ice.

"Quick, Link! Get your skates on it's freezing just standing out here, let's move! I don't know how you're not dying in that stupid tunic of yours." Princess Zelda was dressed in an assortment of thick coats the outermost a slick white coat made from the fur of a white wolfos that matched her pants of the same material. She had a neatly tied pair of white ice skates with material made from dodongo scales and complete with sleek metal blades that gleamed in the moonlight. Standing in the snow, she wobbled slightly trying to keep her balance while scolding Link.

Link, of course, did not have such a fine pair of skates; in fact the princess was probably the only person in Hyrule who did. Link did not even have a coat to wear either, but that was mostly by choice. His tunic was more than enough to keep him warm. The skates Link did happen to own looked rather flimsy and weak, such that the blade might fall off as soon as it made contact with the ice, and they were so hard to fit tightly around his feet that he was quite used to Zelda becoming impatient with his struggles.

Link finally managed to tie his last skate. Zelda was now jumping up and down in place, rubbing the sleeves of her thick coat. "A-Are y-you f-f-finally r-read-dy?" She said through chattering teeth.

Link raised his head to look at her with an impish grin. In a flash of green, he stood up and grabbed Zelda, lifting her into his arms as she screamed at him. Drowning out her curses with his own laughter, Link ran smoothly in his skates across the rigid piles of snow towards the pond. With a graceful leap, he struck the surface of the ice and skated forward placing Zelda down on her own skates but holding her waste as the two raced along the ice.

The air _was_ cold, but as Link guided the princess around the surface of the lake, the temperature faded to the back of his mind.

Link held on tightly to her waste, easing Zelda in different directions as she tried to keep her balance. Eventually she began to calm down from the initial shock of hitting the ice.

Sensing Link's grip beginning to loosen, she quickly turned her head to give Link a demand: "You better not let go of me."

Link pondered her request for a moment, sarcastically twisting his face to contemplate it, before giving her a light push away from him.

Waving her arms frantically in circles in a meaningless attempt at holding her balance, Zelda slid along the surface of the ice only a short distance before coming to a stop.

Link continued to skate in precise circles around the princess as she quietly prayed for safety from the goddesses. "Congratulations Princess, you've finally skated on your own! And might I awe in the gracefulness of that performance; such finesse, such confidence, I'd have thought you'd been skating for years."

Zelda cautiously opened her eyes, realizing she had come to a stop. Taking a deep breath, she loosened her arms from their petrified position, but in so doing, finally lost her balance and fell hard onto the ice. Link skated in front of her, bending down in a crouching position to look her in the eyes and laugh.

"Ow, Link. I told you not to let go." She said, wincing through the pain in her backside.

Link sucked in his fit of laughter. "Well, in all seriousness, you finally did it on your own even though it wasn't the prettiest thing I've ever seen," he said with a supportive smile.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I? It felt good to be free like that."

"Free, huh?" Link said; his smile fading.

Zelda stopped massaging her hip and looked curiously at Link.

Link suddenly let out a wide grin. "At least now you'll have a reason to have the only pair of real skates in Hyrule!" He rose to his feet grabbing Zelda's hand and pulled her up with him.

The moon had given them a quiet light under which the surrounding trees rustled in a calm dance. As the pair continued skating around the frozen clearing, thin grey clouds began to swim through the sea of stars and over the silver light of the moon. The already chilled air started to sting Link and Zelda's faces as they slid across the ice.

"Let me try it on my own again, okay?" Zelda asked Link as she shoved off from his grip.

Link stopped on the ice and folded his arms with a smile. "Well, let's see it then."

Zelda could not avoid waving her arms for balance at first, but soon stood upright and struck off from the ice with a clean kick. Slowly she maintained her balance as she skated away from Link.

Zelda reached the other end and clumsily came to a stop before turning around to look at Link with a bashful grin.

"Good! Now come back to me a bit faster," Link said.

Zelda took a determined stance and kicked off back towards Link. She was going a lot faster than before; making strong strides as she picked up speed on her return glide. She could see Link watching her in admiration as she got closer. She closed her eyes and let out a triumphant giggle.

But with her eyes closed, she could not see the crack in the ice in front of her. As her skate crossed over the small gap, the point stuck into the face of the ice tripping Zelda and sending her crashing into the ice. The weak ice was not strong enough to withstand the force of her fall, thus Zelda was sent plunging into the frigid water.

Link stood stunned for a moment but snapped himself into focus, racing over to the open hole in the ice, diving headfirst into the water. Zelda hadn't fallen far, giving Link enough time to hold his breath in the deathly cold water in order to grab a hold of her. Link grabbed Zelda's waist and pulled her to the surface of the water, getting all of his strength underneath of her body in order to push her out and onto the thick ice above. Link could not hoist himself up as well and was forced to retreat beneath the water. Frantically, he darted around the solid surface of ice in front of him trying to stick the point of his skate into the façade. Finally striking a sturdy point, Link lifted himself up and out of the water, rolling over right beside Zelda.

Coughing up what felt like ice, Link quickly got up and examined the princess; her eyes were closed, but she was breathing rapidly as her body shivered for warmth. "It's okay. You're going to be fine, Zelda," Link said as he picked her up and held her close.

The connection between the two of them was like nothing they had ever experienced. It was an embrace out of necessity, one in which both of them couldn't have survived without. Yet, perhaps there was something a little more in each of their hearts that night; something more than just vital warmth. An emotion, such as love, could be as vital as body heat; even if it remains hidden deep within. Thus, the terms behind an embrace are never completely decided; it is only the result that shines the brightest.

* * *

><p>Link feels the soft smooth cloth of sheets as he lifts his head from beneath a fluffy mountain of feathers. He is lying in a bed; a bed that appeared to be the same one he awoke from not long ago (or at least what felt like not that long ago). Looking around he recognizes the familiar arrangement of the lonely furniture of the small house. This time however, he is not alone.<p>

The red-haired girl sits next the bed in one of the wooden chairs from the table. She stares blankly towards a window at the back of the house, watching the light of a candle dance in the nighttime breeze.

Link squirms beneath the sheets lifting himself up against the wall behind him. The girl casually turns to him. Realizing he is awake, she frantically fiddles around a nearby stand gathering a small slice of bread and placing it on the rim of a pale blue bowl. Steam rises slowly from the yellow liquid sloshing around in the bowl. "You're awake! Here please take this" the girl says hastily.

Link reaches out for the bowl, taking it without saying a word. The girl watches intently as he grabs the wooden spoon and swirls the fluid, stirring small bits of green from the bottom.

She wasn't going to stop looking at him until he took a sip, Link thought. Reluctantly, Link gathers a large spoonful of green flakes and raises it to his lips. The flakes looked like little bits of leaves, but describing them as green would be a far cry from the truth. Clumped together they were black in color with a slimy looking texture.

Link notices as the girl slides forward in her seat slightly, still watching Link with pleading eyes.

With a deep sigh, Link pours the mixture of green flakes and yellow broth down his throat. The clump of flakes immediately sticks to the lining of his throat, sluggishly beginning a long decent to his stomach leaving a trail of gooey excess in its wake. The yellow liquid stings his tongue with a bitter splash of flavor. Link's eyes start to water as he struggles to swallow the food he had been given.

"How do you feel?" the girl asks with concerned eyes.

"Perfect," Link coughs, "that stuff really helped."

The girl claps her hands together and lets out a beaming grin. "Wonderful! If you ever get sick again I can give you some more!"

Link grimaces, letting out a weary chuckle. "I'd rather just not get sick again."

"Oh, well of course we'd rather have that!" the girl giggles. She grabs the bowl from Link. "I don't think you were ready to get up today. It's my fault; I should have been watching you until you woke up."

Link looks seriously at the girl. Maybe now he could finally get some of the answers he had been looking for. "What happened today? I feel like I've been in some sort of dream this entire time."

The girl's face turns red. She quickly shifts her eyes to look at the floor. "Do you remember hugging me?"

A hug? Yes, he remembers an embrace. Link shivers slightly. Was it cold? No it was warm. "By the beach?" he asks.

The girl nods, keeping her eyes locked onto the floor.

"Yes. But everything feels so scattered. I woke up in this house, but no one was around. No one was in this village. I thought I saw something out at sea. Then I heard your song."

"You heard my song?" the girl says softly, her face completely red.

"It was beautiful. I felt like I was long departed from the world."

"But you're not. You're right here. You're alive." The girl was looking at him with an enamored expression.

How could he know for certain what had happened since the storm that night? She couldn't possibly know anything. "I want to believe that. But I still don't know what's going on here."

The girl places a hand on one of Link's outstretched feet that were still covered by the bed sheets. Her face had returned to normal and she wore a relieved expression. "I didn't want to say anything to you. I wanted to make sure you were feeling well enough to hear what I have to say."

Link looked away from the girl, his eyes clenched in annoyance. "I think I'm ready to hear it."

The girl kneels down off of the chair she was sitting on and reaches underneath of the bed. Link hears the sound of metal scraping against the wooden floor. The girl surfaces from beneath the bed, pulling a large metal object up and placing it upright in front on the floor.

"Where did you get that?" Link jumps up from the bed and onto the floor, grabbing the shield and furiously looking it over.

The girl knelt beside Link as he continued inspecting the shield. "I found you on the beach several days ago, Link. A lot of things had been washing up on the shore, and one day, I happened to find you there amongst a pile of broken pieces of wood. This shield showed up a few days later, while you were still asleep."

Link turns the shield around and runs his hands over the surface. He finds the indentation near the bottom where he etched his name long ago. "This is how you knew my name."

The girl nods at him.

Link sits back against the side of the bed, sighing deeply. "Then it's real."

"Of course you're real Link. You can't give up on yourself."

Link rests his head back onto the edge of the soft bed. She is right. Even though his journey has seemed like nothing but misfortune, grief, and loss, he was surely still alive, meaning he still had something left to do. "You're right…" Link raised his head up to look at the girl, "…I wish I knew your name, so that I could tell you this properly."

The girl's eyes grow wide as she gasps. "I'm so sorry, how rude of me." She looks into Link's eyes with a comforting gaze. "My name is Marin."

Link slid closer to the girl and wrapped his arms loosely around her. "Thank you, Marin. You saved me."

With surprised eyes and a startled smile, Marin returned the embrace. "I told you. You're going to be all right now."

The blonde-haired, blue eyed young man and the beautiful red-haired maiden held each other close inside the small lonely house. It was both a spontaneous and necessary embrace, one which neither could explain. Their hearts were close, but still remained hidden, only sharing the vitality of the moment. Whether or not the feelings would eventually reveal themselves was left open to the future; a future that was guaranteed by the essential connection that had been forged between them.


	4. Chapter 3: Stranger

Chapter Three:

**Stranger**

_Get up, you lazy oaf! Sweet Goddesses, Link, you sleep as much as a Goron who's had too much rock ale._

The words of Princess Zelda echoed deep inside Link's head as he rose up from the bed. The small little house remained the same as the previous day. It still held a lonely but warming atmosphere with its accommodations made only for two.

Yet, waking up this morning was different for Link. There was no bowl of terrifying remedial food being shoved in his face, and the debilitating ache all over his body from days of being cramped in a barrel seemed to have evaporated from his body. This morning was peaceful.

Thinking about it now, Link knows things had to have started returning to normal. Hearing the princess's nagging words in his head this morning was as if he were right at home in the castle.

But he still knows this place is not the castle. The small little house which, Link assumes, belongs to the red-haired girl Marin, is most certainly not even close to the home he knows, or rather, once knew as Hyrule Castle. Wherever this place is, it would take him a very long time to get home.

The house is empty, but looking around the house Link notices signs of recent activity, namely the front door left wide open, welcoming a draft of warm afternoon air into the cramped confines of the house.

Link moves his arms about as he walks out the open door, trying to loosen up his joints that are still quite stiff. The golden rays of the sunlight help sooth his body as he steps into their warm embrace.

The landscape, like the house, remains unchanged; the ocean still glows a crisp blue underneath the sun, and the lush green of the trees continue to radiate their cool aura. The calm winds sweep over the hillside carrying the peaceful sound of the sea with them.

"Hey look, it's him" says a childish voice, breaking through the wind. Surprised, Link turns quickly in the direction of the voice. Leaning against the small house's picket fence are two small children, one in red, the other in green, but otherwise appear completely identical to Link.

"Why's he lookin' at us so weird Tommy?" the boy in green quietly asks the boy in red.

"Miss Marin said he was in an accident, Tayce," the boy in red replies.

Link rubs his eyes with his knuckles and walks outside the picket fence on the same side as the children. He notices the child in green step back slightly as he steps towards them. "Do you live here, the both of you?"

The child in green takes a step back behind the one in red who takes a firm stance in front of Link. "Of course we live here, buddy, we're where we belong." The child in red stretches a tiny finger up towards Link, "You don't live here though. You're not where you belong."

Link raises his eyebrow at the child; the little kid doesn't know how right he really is. "Do you know a girl named Marin?" he asks the child in red.

The child drops his finger and grins, "Yeah we know Miss Marin, mister."

"Do you know where she is? I'd like to speak with her."

The two children turn away from Link and huddle close to each other, whispering between themselves. After a minute of conversation, the child in green shakes his head at the other, but the red one ignores him before turning aggressively back towards Link. "Yes, we'll take you to her. Follow us!" the child says politely.

The two children run off, away from the small house. A short distance away they both glance back at Link as if to beckon him to follow. Link sighs as he starts to chase after them, but is slowed down by an ache that pulsates over his body. Apparently he had been wrong in his assumption this morning about his body being free of pain.

The children lead Link through the town, passing by all of the houses that Link had checked the day before, only this time there are people outside of them. He wanted to stop and look at each one of them, but the children were beginning to pull away from him, thus, Link is forced to shield himself from the curious gazes of the townspeople as he follows the children up a large hill.

The two children stop at the edge of the hill, right before its steep cliff that appears to fall quite a distance to the ground.

"Here we are mister," says the child in red.

As Link had already somewhat suspected, Marin was nowhere to be seen. "So, where is she?" he says sarcastically as he leans over, putting his hands on his waist.

"Oh that's right Tayce, she's usually down below this hill isn't she?" the child in red says suspiciously to the other.

The child in green sighs, "You're right, Tommy."

"Oh I see her! Look, mister, down there!"

Link steps to the edge of the cliff and peers over the side. The only thing he could see at the base of the cliff was a stone well sticking out of the ground.

Link closes his eyes tightly, building a slight rage in his head. As if he really though some good for nothing children were going to shed some light on his situation.

Steaming with an arsenal of vulgarity, Link prepares to launch his fury back at the children, but he is stopped by a slight tremor beneath him. In an instant, the ground beneath his outstretched foot gives way beneath him. With nothing to grab a hold of, Link slides with the crumbling earth over the edge of the cliff, falling down along the side of the cliff and directly into the stone well at the bottom, making a powerful splash into a pool of freezing cold water.

Link quickly surfaces taking a gasp of cool air from the dark confines of the well. The well water is deep, and he is forced to tread the water continually to avoid dipping beneath it. Shaking his head to the side, Link expels some water from inside his ears which allows him to hear the faint sound of laughter from high above. As much as he wanted to release his anger on the children, there was little use; they would not hear him from all the way down here, nor would they care to mind the words of a stranger.

At least for him, the cold water of the well is fairly soothing. Not only does the water calm his aching muscles, but his frustration about everything seems to drift away with the cool gusts of wind entering from above.

The laughter eventually stops from above and the whistle of the wind through the well's mouth rings in Link's waterlogged ears. Not long after the laughter ceases, he can hear the sound of a girl's voice from above, yet it is much too faint to hear.

Link his head to the side again, loosening up more water. He stretches his now mostly empty ear towards the well's opening in an attempt to hear the voice.

"Tommy? Tayce?" the voice says before the wind interrupts, "you did what?"

Link looks up and sees a shadowed face looking down from high above on the cliff. He squints to try to make out the face.

The person starts to edge closer to the side of the cliff but appears to lose their footing in much the same way Link had done. As the person topples over the side of the cliff, he recognizes the blue dress and red hair in the sunlight. "Marin!" he yells up, but much too late. In a flash, she falls from the cliff and down inside the well, splashing into the well water right next to Link. Link reaches beneath the water and grabs her arm, pulling her up to the surface.

Marin gasps for air, grabbing Link's shoulder with her arm to hold herself above the water. She finally catches her breath, looking up at Link whose face is slightly illuminated in the dim light from above. "Oh, Link, You're alright."

Link is shocked at how casual Marin's voice is. "_I'm_ alright? What about you? You just took quite a fall."

Marin lets go of Link's arm to pull her wet, clumped hair from in front of her face. Link can barely make out a smirk on her face in the pale light. "You took the same fall didn't you? And here I find you in one piece just like me," she giggles.

Link sighs and closes his eyes. This girl reminds him of the magic puzzle boxes Zelda enjoyed tormenting him with on rainy days at the castle. The idea behind all of them was always the same: move the different keys and levers on the outside to unlock parts on the inside in order to get to the center. Even though Link had a certain knack for the boxes, he knew of no Hylian who could possibly detect the traps held inside each one; thus solving a box meant he would always have to deal with fingers that were shocked, burned, and pricked by the tiny trick spells hidden amongst the fake locks.

Up until this point, this strange red-haired girl was turning into one of those puzzle boxes right before his eyes; one he had yet to release a single lock on by knowing next to nothing about her. All he had managed was being tormented by the traps of a mysteriously foul soup and a treacherously high fall from the top of a cliff.

Yet, this girl had saved his life. Not once, but already twice. So, just as Zelda was always ready with a touch of Nayru's love for his hands and a friendly vote of confidence for his spirits, Link had to be as ever vigilant with his new situation as he was with the puzzle boxes, or else he would never figure out where he was and how to get home from it.

Link opens his eyes and holds a stern expression. "It's just that, how are we going to get out of here now with you down here? I doubt those kids are going to go running to help me."

"Oh, don't worry; those kids are already getting help for us. They'd never let anything happen to me," replies Marin, laughing at Link's concerned look.

Link gazes up the shaft of the well. Apart from the edge of the cliff, the only thing visible is the deep blue sky. The whistle of the wind through the well's opening is all Link can hear, no movement, no sounds of other people.

"So, you're saying there're other people in your village that can help us?" Link looks back at Marin.

Marin stops laughing to raise an eyebrow at Link. "Of course there are. Did you think I lived here alone?"

"Well, it's just that when I woke up…yesterday that is…I looked around everywhere for people, but no one was around."

Marin puts a hand to her chin to think. "Oh, yes! I remember you saying something like that a few times. But, you know Link; you were awfully worn out that day. There's not that many people in this town so I'm sure if some of them were out it probably felt like no one was here with you being sick."

Sick or not, Link knows he checked every house in this village that day and nobody was there. "You're probably right. Let's just forget about it. If we ever get out of this well, maybe I can meet some of these people."

Marin gasps. Her face seems to light up the well with joy. "I'm so glad!" Tilting her head to the well's opening she puts her hands around her mouth, "Tommy! Tayce! You two better be getting help up there!" she yells.

Almost immediately, the light from the opening is blocked out by a giant object that Link can barely tell is a person. "Marin? What'cha doin' down there, sweetie?"

Link can no longer see Marin's face. "Very funny, Dad. Throw the rope or whatever down here, please"

Light returns to the well and the wind rushes back inside carrying with it the sound of something knocking against the stone walls of the shaft. The bottom rungs of a wooden rope ladder hit Link in the face before splashing down in the water sparking a grunt of pain from Link.

Marin chuckles as Link rubs his face. She grabs onto the ladder and hoists herself out of the water, dripping streams of cold water from the tips of her dress onto Link who grabs the ladder below her and begins to follow her up.

As Link climbs behind Marin, he twists his face in discomfort due to the pain from being hit by the ladder and the chill of the water dripping from Marin's dress. Although for his own sake, it's probably a positive that he cannot look up, he thinks to himself.

The water from Marin's dress begins to subside as the light intensifies towards the top of the well. Reaching the surface, Link feels the chill of the warm air against his cold, drenched body. He grabs on to the edge of the well and pulls himself over the side; crashing to the ground he lets out a deep breath of fresh air.

"Ah what're you doing all tuckered out like that youngin'?" Link is suddenly jolted to his feet by the grip of a powerful fist. Link could see that the fist's owner was an abnormally large man with a thick black mustache and powerful arms under toned with layers of fat that were in perfect proportion to his protrusive stomach. "I've fallen down that hole a thousand times, you'll live." With a booming laugh the man gives a thunderous pat on Link's back, sending him flying across the grass.

Having spent all that time in the well, Link had forgotten how sore he still was, and now as he slides across the grass to a stop he wishes he could have stayed a little longer in that cold well water.

After coming to a stop face down in the dirt, Link turns himself over and sits up to look back at the humongous man.

Marin had been standing next to him. She rings out her hair and clothes with a grin as she watches Link get up. "Please forgive my father Link, he can't help himself sometimes."

The giant man walks over to Link and holds out a hand. Link reluctantly grasps the large fist, but is surprised at how gently the man helps him to his feet this time. "I had to give you my personal greeting, son. Sorry about that," he says with a chuckle, "anyhow; the name's Tarin. I'm Marin's father. Finally I get ta' meet this young lad that my little girl's been taking care of."

Link continues to shake Tarin's hand while attempting to ease the pain of his backside with the other. "It's great to finally meet someone else, sir," Link says weakly.

Tarin returns Link's words with a beaming grin, "You've got plenty of other people to meet. This _whole _village is in an uproar about the stranger; so much in fact that…"

"Papa, Link is tired and still not feeling very well," Marin interrupts. She hurries over to Link's side and grabs his hand, giving him a tug in the direction of her house. "I'm going to get him some different clothes then let him relax a little on the beach."

Link notices the demanding look in her eyes as she stares at her father, yet Tarin seems to be befuddled by her quick reaction. After scratching the thick black hair on the top of his head, his eyes grow wide, "Oh! Of course dear; run along now."

With a quick smile at her father, Marin yanks at Link's arm, pulling him through the village back to the house.

* * *

><p>Like the rest of the village, the beach remained as beautiful as the first time Link laid eyes upon it. Marin had brought him back to the small cove where the two first met after they spent a better part of the afternoon searching for clothes that would fit Link.<p>

In the time it took Marin to scramble around her house rummaging through her father's clothes, the pale green shirt Link had been wearing was dried of every last drop of water from the well. Embarrassed by what she claimed a "lack of hospitality" Marin had rushed the two of them down to the beach before Link could even think of thanking her for the hospitality she had already exhibited.

The first rays of twilight cast long shadows of Link and Marin along the canvas of sand as the two of them sit inside the cove's circle of jagged rocks. Link sits with outstretched legs, dipping his toes into the edge of the tide as it periodically slides up the shore. Marin sits next to him, her legs bent up to her chin with her arms wrapped tightly around them.

The only sound in the cove is that of the crashing waves which makes the warm breeze feel like needles as is brushes against the back of Link's neck.

"Do you like sunsets, Link?" Marin says while gazing out at the ocean.

Link feels a twist in his stomach. "I suppose I do."

Marin remains focused on the sea. "Really? I've always found them to be quite sad."

"Sad?" says Link, his stomach twisting over again.

"It's sad because the sun gets to see what lies way out beyond the ocean, but I can't follow it."

Link looks at Marin, his face lost with bewilderment.

Marin returns Link's stare with a joyful smile. "But, _you_ must have followed the sun out there."

Link frowns, "Just once."

"Once would be just enough for me," Marin says; her eyes deep with ambition.

Link stands up, "I wouldn't dream so much about it," he says, shrugging, "once was all I needed to lose my way."

Marin lifts herself to her feet in suit. "Hey now, don't you go making the sunset any sadder," she says with a chuckle, "If you really came from somewhere across the sea, I'm sure you can get back."

"How can I when I don't even know where I am now?" Link says, raising his arms at the land around him.

"Koholint."

"What?"

"You're on Koholint Island," Marin says with a smile.

"Koholint?" Link asks, closing his eyes to think.

"Yep."

Throughout most of his childhood, Zelda had always enjoyed dragging Link to the castle library and commanding him to remain seated while she read aloud a variety of texts for her enjoyment. She had always said it was beneficial to his education, yet Link had always had his doubts.

Link remembers vividly the Geography of Hyrule books specifically because they were so painfully boring it was as if Zelda was branding his brain with a cattle prod of useless geographic information. It was from these horrifying experiences that Link could say without a doubt that he had never heard of such a place as "Koholint Island."

"I've never heard of it," says Link.

Marin laughs, "I'm not surprised. We've never gotten a visitor here before."

Link feels his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. "You've never…gotten a visitor?"

"Nope," Marin sticks out her finger and pokes Link's vacated heart, "you're the first."

Parallel to the setting sun and draped with in a melancholy orange glow, the jagged rocks of the cove envelope the sand in a dark shadow. Link feels as if the sand could give way any second, sending him falling into a deep abyss. Perhaps that would be the only way to escape this island.

Link raises his hands to his face to bury his head into come form of comfort.

Marin puts a hand on his shoulder. "I have something to show you Link. Come with me."

Marin Grabs his hand and pulls him along the beach back towards the village.

* * *

><p>The night comes quickly to the island as Marin guides Link back through the hills to the village. Link glares back at the last sliver of the sun before it vanishes behind the horizon; it must have been quite eager to see the distant oceans and leave him in darkness.<p>

The small lights of the village come into view as the two pass over the last hill. Many of the windows are dark, but there are some candles left burning their weak flames on the various window sills.

Link feels the grip on his hand tighten as he is pulled harder along. Marin begins to pick up speed as the two of them pass by her house.

"Where are we going?"" Link says, hurrying to keep up with her.

"Just come on."

Marin guides Link up a set of steep stone stairs carved into a small cliff. At the top, Link notices a very large house that he failed to notice before. It stands just as tall as the others around, but is nearly twice as long and complete with two doors.

"Here we are!" Marin says, pointing to one of the large house's doors, "Go ahead inside."

Link cautiously steps up to the door. The house is completely dark, with no candles alight in any of its many windows. He grabs the small wooden handle with a shaking hand and swings open the door.

Stepping inside, Link is overcome by shadow. Only the faint moonlight from the door is visible, but it disappears as Marin steps inside, closing the door behind them.

"Marin?"

Suddenly the house is illuminated with a blinding light, forcing Link to shut his eyes.

"Welcome to Koholint, Link!" rings out the sound of numerous voices.

Opening his eyes, Link sees many different people, adults, children, elders, even the two children from earlier and Marin's father Tarin. All of them stand close around a large table stretched along the interior of the house. A crackling flame in the fireplace at the back illuminates the tabletop, which is completely covered with baskets of different fruits and breads, too many variations for Link to count. Dispersed amongst the fruit are plates of fish, some left raw, other cooked that fill the air with a unique smell of sea and spice.

Link stands in awe of the scene, his mouth slightly open in astonishment.

Marin steps next to her father and watches Link absorb the surprise with a satisfying smile. "From all of us here in Mabe Village, to you, Link, our guest: welcome to Koholint Island."

Welcome to Koholint Island. The words ring deep inside Link's head. It was a customary thing to welcome someone to your home. He knew such customs were common by listening to Zelda speak of her travels to the various lands around Hyrule. But Zelda was royalty. She was someone important; someone who the natives were obligated to acknowledge with a warm greeting.

What did that make Link, then? He was no diplomat, and certainly not royalty, even if he was the closest friend the Princess of Hyrule had. Yet, the people of this island were greeting him as if he was. It was an unnecessary gesture, but somewhere deep inside it all, Link could see the heart that was behind it, even if he did not know he could.

Link feels the meager tug of a tiny hand on his pant leg that snaps him out of his thoughts. The boy in the green shirt who had conspired against him stood close to him looking up with a set of childish eyes.

"I'm sorry about today Link. I didn't want you to fall in the well but…Tommy made me" the little child in green says tearfully.

The child in red emerges from the crowd of people and starts to chase after the child in green, "Shut up Tayce, and get over here!"

The two children run circles around Link and some of the other people until a woman steps between them, swooping her arms down to snatch both children. "Calm down you two," she says, fighting with the child in red who was kicking and reaching for the child in green, "I'm the one who's sorry Link. My name is Mamahl and these two are mine. Tommy, apologize to this young man right now."

The child in red stops fighting in his mother's arms, "Sorry," he says nearly inaudibly.

Link gives the child a faint glare. "That's alright, Ma'am," he says softly.

"I'm sure you were like this once, Link," Mamahl says, smiling, "I actually have two more of these rascals here. Teddy, Tison; come on out and meet Mr. Link."

Two more children, identical to the other two and dressed in green shirts similar to Tayce's, run out from the crowd stopping by their mother. A tall man, who had been standing next to Tarin, walks up to Mamahl and places his hand on her shoulder.

"Quadruplets; they certainly make this village an interesting place," says the man, sticking out his hand, "I'm Papahl, this is my wife and our four sons. We're honored to meet you, Link."

Link loosely shakes Papahl's hand. The other people, who had been silently watching Link, start to converse with each other creating a bustling atmosphere.

Tarin raises his arms high in the air, "Now, now, everyone," he booms, "We'll all have a chance to meet our guest but for right now we should dig in to this food; it's getting cold!"

As they are commanded, everyone in the room finds themselves a seat, leaving Link the seat at the head of the long table. Every set of eyes watches Link slide reluctantly into the wooden chair. Link feels the gazes of the people against his face, each of them burning, causing a bead of sweat to trickle from his forehead.

Link looks down at the plate in front of him. A platter of fish and fruit had already been served to him. Link slowly reaches for the fork at the side of the plate, picking it up and piercing a slice of pineapple with care. He now had numerous beads of sweat collecting on his brow. He raises the morsel of food to his mouth and bites down on it, swallowing it immediately.

Coincidently as Link feels the sweet slice of fruit slip down his throat, Tarin throws his arms in the air as if to rejoice Link's apparent accomplishment. "Let's eat!" he yells.

The room bursts into a sea of excitement and activity as the people pass around the plates of food and pitchers of water to each other. The heat of the stares fades away as the attention turns to the food, leaving Link in a dazed trance holding an empty fork.

He looks over at Marin sitting to his left, who is clenching her mouth shut with her teeth in an attempt not to laugh at Link's ridiculous appearance.

The large room continued to bustle well into the night with spirited laughter. The people of the village each took their own turn to introduce themselves to Link.

There was the jovial Madame MeowMeow, a large woman who spent her introduction speaking of her collection of BowWows, which Link could only assume were dogs.

The sly shopkeeper, a short bald man, kept his introduction short, giving Link a lesson he had already known in avoiding theft.

The town's two eldest residents, Grandpa and Grandma Ulrira, were especially unique. Grandma Ulrira gave two introductions, one for herself, and the other for her husband who apparently was too shy to speak to Link in person.

Papahl once again apologized to Link for the behavior of his quadruplets even as the one in red, Tommy, made faces at Link from across the table. Link came close to smiling when Tommy was stopped by a kick from his mother from underneath the table.

Even Tarin felt he had to give another introduction for Marin and himself, and somehow it resulted in being the lengthiest of all the speeches. Marin finally cut the monologue short by sliding an uneaten piece of fish from her plate to her father's, to which Tarin was readily distracted from speaking any further.

The people of Mabe village, despite being few in number, appeared more colorful than the droves of citizens who walked the streets of Hyrule Castletown every day. Each one of them had a story to tell that could fill a shelf in the castle library, and it painted them all into the one giant family, the likes of which Link had never known.

The introductions finally come to an end, just as the table that was once piled high with delectable food is picked clean down to the smallest crumb of bread. Tarin is leaned back in his chair, passed out, with tiny bits of food spread across his shirt; Marin next to him, her head buried in her hands in embarrassment.

The rest of the villagers talk quietly, most of them still looking curiously at Link. Was it his turn to give an introduction?

Link picks up his cup and gulps down the last of the water inside it. He stands up and surveys the people sitting around the table, all of them, including Tarin who had just been slapped awake by his daughter, stared in awe, eagerly anticipating Link to say more than three words.

"I want to thank you all for doing this. I don't feel as much a stranger to this place as before."

All of the people smile.

"I don't really know what I should do now. I thank all of you for saving my life, but I…"

_Thump_

Link's speech is interrupted by a knock from the door behind him. The villagers move in their seats trying to catch a glimpse of the door as silence falls over the room.

_Thump_

The curtains in the windows rustle as a heavy wind blows through the house, blowing out the candles leaving only the eerie light of the fireplace.

_Thump_

"Should someone check it?" a voice from the back says.

Link gets up from his chair starts to move towards the door, but is stopped as Marin grabs his hand. "Wait, Link," she says nervously, "I don't know who that could be. Everyone in the village is here right now."

Link slips his hand out of her grip and shrugs at her, continuing to make his way to the door.

Arriving at the door, Link reaches his hand to the door knob.

_Thump_

The sound startles Link, causing him to jerk his hand back slightly. He could feel the villagers jump in sync with him.

With a deep breath, Link quickly reaches out and grabs the handle.

_Don't tell them._

Link chokes on his own breath as he hears the haunting whisper in his head. He looks back at the villagers to gage their reaction, but none of them had made the slightest stir at the sound of the whisper. Shaking his head, the voice fades away into the wind.

With one more deep breath, Link turns the handle and opens the door...


	5. Chapter 4: Eyes

Chapter Four:

**Eyes**

The door creaks with the punishment of age as Link pushes it open. Against the howl of the dark blustery wind, the creaking door sweeps Link out into the overwhelming darkness of the night. Link can barely make out the blunt figures of the distant houses as they sit underneath the cloud-ravaged moon. Even the exterior of the large house, where he had been acquainting himself with the townspeople for the past several hours, is impossible to observe other than the weak flame from the candles in the window sills.

_Thump_

Link jumps in surprise, loosening his grip on the handle of the door. The wind notices the opportunity and snatches the door from Link, slamming it shut behind him and leaving him alone in the abyssal night. He can feel his heart knocking against the inside of his chest as if it were on fire and for a moment he considers if the thumping noise was, in fact, this petulant noise after all.

_Thump_

Link turns to face the door, but the source of the noise remains hidden. Swallowing in an attempt to disperse his fear; he is instead given the taste of the stagnant remnants of the fish clinging to his tongue.

The wind continues to swirl around Link, whistling a melancholy tune to him as he stands stiffly, waiting for the noise to produce itself once again.

_Hoot_

Hoot? It certainly wasn't the noise Link had been expecting. Glancing into the thicket of trees shaking in the wind next to the house, Link spies two bright lights shining in the blackness. The lights glow a striking yellow that entices Link to investigate.

Link inches carefully towards the shining jewels; fighting the wind as it pushes him back. Link reaches the large house's other main door which stands only a few feet away from the dark trees.

Squinting intently, Link peers into the rustling leaves of the trees at the yellow circles that continue to shine in the darkness. As Link's eyes begin to ache in pain, the moon digs itself out from above the clouds, just enough to shed a thin streak of its light onto the branches of the trees. The piercing yellow fades away, leaving only a cumbersome outline of something perched on a tree branch.

_Hoot_

The shadowy figure bobs slightly as the sound rings forth into Link's ears. The moonlight vanishes as the moon succumbs to the clouds once again, and the yellow glare of the figure's eyes returns to tap into Link's nerves.

Link stands frozen in the whirling air, watching and waiting for the figure to make another noise or motion. With a powerful gust of wind, the trees are whipped against each other, prompting the dark creature to reveal a large wingspan. With powerful flaps, the bird gazes once more at Link before catching the wind and flying over Link's head into the darkness.

Link wipes a thick sheet of sweat from his forehead. Whatever the large bird was, it was gone now and with it the leering noise that had put Link on edge. Yet, even though the mysterious noise had finally ceased, the eerie winds continue to whisper their irritable song into Link's ear.

"Are you alright Link? Was there someone out here?" he could hear Marin ask him from behind.

Link turns around to find Marin gazing at him with a set of puzzled eyes. In fact, the whole party had exited the house to fire a succession of interrogative stares at him.

"I don't know what it was," says Link, turning to peer back into the shadowy woods, "some kind of bird, maybe."

A collective sigh whips softly from behind Link making the darkness lift ever so slightly to relinquish its tense grasp. The gathering starts to chirp with relieved chatter and many of the crowd start to wander back into the house, seemingly absolved of their brief moment of terror. Link watches as Marin ushers her father to return to the house before approaching Link.

"That probably seemed a little strange, huh?" Marin says to him, her eyes shying towards the ground.

Strange? Not nearly so. Link had seen similar situations in the market in Hyrule. The common folk were always quick to react to particular occurrences, namely his own trouble he created by being a delinquent, but never too long after the people would displace their worries with the next task to be done in their lives. Perhaps the people of Koholint are really no different from what he knew after all?

Link shakes his head, "They're not strange, Marin," he says with a yawn before falling to sit down on the dancing blades of windswept grass, "Not to me at least."

Marin kneels down beside Link. "I'm so glad you see them like that," she says with a smile, "everyone's so taken in by the events of the past few weeks that they're not acting like their normal selves. It's just that we…that they want to know so much about you, the anticipation is walking a very thin line."

Link's eyes start to feel heavy. It was obvious that these people were salivating just to hear what he had to tell them about Hyrule and his life outside of this little island, but he was so close to telling them how he really felt, how he just wanted to find the easiest way to get off this island and return to his life. However, the noise that had frightened an entire village of people now seemed like it was conveniently timed to stop him from saying those things.

A coincident no doubt, Link imagines as he lies back to stare up into the night sky. The white stars flicker in random patterns, but their light starts to fade as Link feels his eyes gaining more and more weight. "So, why didn't you say 'we?'" he says looking over to Marin.

Link can faintly see her smile before his eyes close shut and he loses his consciousness to the embrace of sleep.

* * *

><p>An assortment of odors wafts through Link's nose as he rises up from his bed. The tropical smells blow in with the light wind as it passes through the open windows of Marin's house. Mixing with the flavors of yet another beautiful day on Koholint is the peculiar smell of a fresh meal.<p>

Link rises from the bed; the sores and aches from the previous days almost completely absent. Stretching his arms in the air, he spies the source of the refreshing smell sitting on the lonely table set by the stove.

Link whips the chair out from underneath the table and turns it around, plopping down on it facing the back of the chair. A small wooden plate waits patiently on the table holding two cucco eggs cooked face-up and a large slice of watermelon curved along the bounds of the dish. Despite how delicious the food appears to Link, he cannot help feeling slightly disturbed by the arrangement of the food. The yolk of the eggs reminded him of the glaring yellow eyes that had paralyzed him last night, and the slice of watermelon curled into creepy red grin to complete what appeared to Link a very terrifying face.

With a quick stroke, Link grabs a fork lying next to the plate and jabs one of the yellow eggs, raising it to his mouth and devouring it whole. The egg is surprisingly freezing cold as it slithers down his throat. Shivering as he gulps down the egg, Link notices a piece of paper fluttering in the wind while held down by a cup near the plate.

Link raises the cup and downs a large gulp of the water inside to wash out the squishy egg, picking up the piece of paper and unfolding it with his free hand.

_Link,_

_I am visiting another village on the island today and will be gone all day._

_I apologize for not telling you sooner._

_It would be best if you avoided leaving the village. It's not safe to travel outside the village alone._

_Instead, if you would like, I'm sure many of the townspeople (including Dad) would enjoy your company for the day._

_Enjoy your breakfast! _

_-Marin_

_Link! Read down here! I'm pickin mushrooms today so I'll be gone too! Don't go gettin in any trouble you hear? Good! Have a nice day!_

_-Tarin_

Link tosses the note aside and takes another large gulp from the glass.

"Not safe outside the village?" Link says aloud.

Was there something he hadn't been told about this seemingly perfect little island? There's no way these people could be solely on edge because of his presence. There has to be something else. The thoughts race through Link's head as he grabs the slice of watermelon and stands up from the chair.

Eating away with large bites of the watermelon, Link treads to the bed and pulls his shield out from underneath. The surface of the shield looks incredibly worn in the slim beam of sunlight reaching inside the house from the window; most likely ravaged by the waves the night of the shipwreck.

Link bites off the last morsel of red fruit leaving only the green husk to set aside.

The shipwreck lingers in his mind as he straps the shield on his back. The Captain, the crew; he knew not if they were still alive somewhere out there. But there would be only one way to answer that question, he realizes as he walks out of the house. He cannot remain hiding in this village and catered to his every whim. He would have to figure out exactly what this island is made of.

* * *

><p>As the winds rushing through the house had already predicated, outside the island's atmosphere emanates another perfect day under a cool, yellow sun. Link quietly strolls along the faint dirt pathway leading from Marin's house into the heart of the village. Many of the people who attended Link's welcoming feast bustle about outside of their homes along the stretch of road. Link particularly notices Madame MeowMeow grooming a couple of curious looking animals that appeared like nothing more than large black spheres; perhaps it was the set of jagged teeth that faded in and out of sight as the creature thrashed about a gaping jaw that gave it life in Link's eyes.<p>

Some of the people avert their attention momentarily to toss a smile and an enthusiastic wave towards Link. Intent not to diverge from the road, Link reluctantly returns the gestures of the townsfolk with a lackluster twirl of his fingertips.

Reaching the hill above the well, where Link had met an unfortunate accident a day earlier, Link breathes a sigh of relief to reward his successful eluding of the townspeople. Link had decided to return to this hill to better grasp a sense of his surroundings, and even perhaps find an exit to the village which he had not managed to find to this point.

Stepping to the top of the cliff (yet quite a few steps back from the edge) Link turns in every direction to map out the village. Most of it was hard to make out. From below it seemed so open and visible, but now from above, nothing could be made out due to the abundance of trees. In fact, that's all that could be seen. Trees, trees, and even more trees, with only the slim edge of the beaches below the hills and the peaks of the jagged mountains above the hills separating themselves from the overgrowth of forestry.

Link sulks in his stance. Not only was the island itself a prison barred by water, but the village appeared to be one as well, just barred by trees instead.

"What are you doing up here?" says a childish voice suddenly.

Link returns his focus from the dense forests to the base of the hill. Standing just below him are the four quadruplets, the only one in red standing aggressively in front of the others.

"Tommy…" Link says, casually squinting his eyelids to leer at the child.

Tommy glares back with his set of small childish eyes. "I asked you a question, mister."

Link turns away to look back over the hill, "What am I doing? Nothing," he says, sighing, "I'm not doing anything."

"It looks like you want to get somewhere," says Tommy, "Maybe where Miss Marin went for the day?"

Absolutely not. This was his chance to do a little exploring on his own. The last thing he needed was Marin following him around.

Link turns to look back at Tommy. The little boy in red remains standing just below the hill with only one of the children in green still standing behind him. It clearly had to be Tayce by the way the child stood there: timid and preoccupied with worry.

"Yeah I'd like to see outside the village if possible, I suppose," says Link casually, ignoring the lack of two of the children. Although now that he thought about it, being with Marin would probably be a lot better than being with this devilish child.

"I know the way out of here. I'll take you there…for a price," Tommy says with a wide grin.

Probably my life, Link imagines. "Sure, what're you asking for?"

Link watches the grin grow wider on the child, but while Tommy's face lights up with glee, Link notices a trembling lip from Tayce whose face is covered with sweat. Suddenly Link feels a sharp tug on his back before he is thrown to the ground. In shock, Link is unable to move as he feels his shield torn off his back.

Lifting himself slowly to his knees, Link watches as the two missing green-shirted quadruplets struggle to carry his shield above their heads as they run towards the wall of trees just above the hill. Tommy and Tayce quickly catch up to them and help carry the shield closer to the forest.

With an angry grunt to quell the sharp pain in his leg as he stands up, Link sprints after the quadruplets without a thought. He quickly closes the gap, but the children reach the edge of the woods before he can reach them.

The three children in green hold onto the shield and disappear into the thicket, but Tommy stops to turn around and face Link just as he closes to the forest's limits.

Link stops a short distance in front of the red-shirted boy, recalling the well incident as a means to think twice about following the children into the woods.

Tommy grins at Link then sticks his tongue out and twists his face into a devilish leer before vanishing into the dense growth of the forest.

Every muscle and every nerve in Link's body quivers as if to beg him to chase after the quadruplets. But a tiny forethought holds him back. Clearly, these demons wanted him to follow them. There was almost a certainty that if he should follow them into this dim and apparently "dangerous" forest, he would most likely end up in an agonizing amount of pain, or quite possibly just be killed. He did not want to put anything past Tommy at this point.

But at the same time, they are only children. If they could survive in this forest, so could he, and perhaps this was the chance he had been waiting for to gain a little insight on the island outside the village.

With a cautious first step, Link passes through a nagging set of bushes and into the Mysterious Woods.

* * *

><p>Passing into the woods felt like passing from reality into a dream. Where the windy hills of Mabe Village had been illuminated under a bright sun, the Mysterious Woods are covered in a thick shade that feels to Link as if it could suffocate him at its own whim. From outside, the trees appeared normal, but underneath their thick roof of tangled branches and dark green leaves, the living walls of the forest are colored a putrid brown as if they had risen from the shadows themselves. The woods certainly did not invite Link, but he had made the decision to tread onward, and he was not going to turn back.<p>

The mess of fallen leaves and branches crackle and swish underneath Link's heavy footsteps as he treads carefully deeper into the woods. As he moves, Link pays close attention to the ground, searching for signs of a trail left behind by the children. The ground does not reveal what Link expects, however. Instead of various broken twigs and smashed leaves, Link notices that the floor of the forest is almost completely treaded into the ground, as if it were walked upon rather regularly, by much more than the tiny sets of footprints left by four children.

The observation sends a shiver down Link's spine. He stops for a moment to kneel and run his hand over the top of the ground. The mixture of leaves and dirt feels cold to the touch, extending the shiver from Link's spine to his entire body. The woods were mysterious indeed.

_Hoot_

Link jolts from his knees at the sound of a familiar noise. His breaths grow heavy as he darts his head in every direction, seeking out the origin of the noise: a peculiar set of yellow eyes he knew he would find.

In every direction, Link is left with the same sight: gnarled and shadowy branches curled in menacing positions covered in assortments of green and brown leaves. The yellow eyes, where were they?

Link stops at the sight of a large tree, much bigger than the others. Deep within its crowded branches, Link notices two tiny sparkles poking themselves out from the mass of leaves.

Slowly, Link takes very cautious steps towards the tree, tingling with nerves at every broken twig his feet snaps as he advances.

The large tree is surrounded by large piles of dead leaves that fill in the void between the adjacent trees. Link stops just before the leaves to reacquire the position of the tiny sparkles. The branches and leaves seem much more spread out at Link's improved position, and sure enough, the sparkles turn into the paralyzing yellow eyes that warned him the night before.

Swallowing to gather his courage, Link steps forward into the pile of leaves, determined to discover the identity of the eyes. His shield and those devilish children were just going to have to wait.

To Link's frequently occurring dismay, the pile of leaves surrounding the tree reveal themselves to be only a shield themselves, there to block the steep slope lying beneath.

Falling forward headfirst, Link hits the slope with a thud and immediately begins sliding on the smooth surface of the leaves as the slope descends deep below the ground he had been standing on. Faster and faster; the pace of the slide grows as it continues deeper in the woods. Link barely manages to roll away from incoming trees as he slides past them at increasing speeds. Finally, that slope levels out sending Link to a crashing stop into a large boulder at the bottom of the hill.

The forest ceiling swirls in various greens and browns as Link lies dazed against the boulder. Another sharp pain cruises through his head and into his hands and knees, which are completely covered by dirt and tiny shavings of leaves. Link manages to stand up, but the woozy feeling in his head forces him to lean on the boulder for support.

With his back pressed heavily on the boulder, Link presses his filthy hands to his forehead. The cool dirt feels soothing, releasing some of the pain that continues to rage inside his head. Link lets out a deep breath, groaning slightly as the cool air exits his mouth. To his surprise, his light groan is met with an equally light whimper from behind the boulder.

Link immediately perks his attention, and fights the pain as he turns around making sure he is completely hidden behind the boulder. Slowly, Link raises his head above the crest of the rock to find the source of the cry.

The boulder rests at the edge of a large clearing that sits illuminated by the thinnest layer of leaves Link had seen until this point. His eyes widen in surprise as he gathers the scene lying in the middle of the clearing.

The four quadruplets are all sitting upright in the center, bound by what appears to be rope. Link can only see the faces of the three children in green, who all sit sobbing with tears draining from their eyes.

Surrounding the four boys are five monstrous creatures, each with dark blue skin that appears to suck the light from above into an intimidating shadow-like aura. The monsters are clad in dark heavy-looking armor made from some form of animal hide that is tightly stretched over their bulging muscular forms. Two of them hold ominously gnarled bows complete with a large quiver of jagged arrows. Another two carry long and ragged spears decorated with dark-colored cloths and complete with a terrifyingly sharp point. The remaining creature, which appears much taller and muscular than the others, wears a metal helmet complete with two gigantic horns and holds a cragged sword covered in marks and chips from repeated use.

The five monsters loom over the children, grunting and snickering at each other as they observe the sobbing children. The horned monster circles around to face Tommy. It lets out a horrible cackle as it reaches down to grab the child. Tommy lets out a loud yell at being clutched by the beast, but the unfazed monster holds the child into the air and brings him over to his brethren.

The monster throws the terrified child down on top of Link's shield which had been lying amongst the circle of monsters.

"Fire" the horned monster grunts to his cohorts.

One of the lanced monsters sticks his spear into the ground and takes a stone from his pocket. He strikes the stone against the head of his spear to make a spark that immediately ignites a pile of branches and leaves next to Tommy and the shield.

Pushing past the aches from the boulder, Link steps out into the clearing. "Hey!"

All five of the monsters turn their hideous faces at Link. The dancing flames from the fire cast menacing shadows across their faces exaggerating their floppy, pointed ears and bulbous pig snouts. The light of the fire reflects against their bright yellow eyes making their black slits of pupils pierce directly into Link's soul.

The fire starting monster picks up his spear and stands in front of the monsters with bows with his spear-carrying companion. The horned monster opens his mouth to reveal a set of decayed and green teeth before letting out a rumbling cry that shakes the leaves and branches of the trees.

Link bends at the knees to ready himself as the spear-wielding monsters charge directly at him. The ground shakes underneath the massive footsteps of the monsters sending Link's heart into a vigorous pace. The first monster reaches Link and delivers a swing of his spear at Link's midsection, prompting Link to roll forward, underneath the whirling blade. His roll sends him past the first monster to its backside. Link prepares to deliver a kick to the back of its leg in an attempt to knock it down, but stops as he hears the sound of the other monster's spear cutting through the air towards his head.

At the last instant, Link leans back to avoid the spear, but the effort is too late, and the tip of the spear grazes his cheek, slicing a shallow cut into his face. Link rolls away from the first monster and onto his knees at the edge of the clearing. He raises his left hand to his cheek, running it along the burning cut before pulling it back. A bright cherry red streak of blood runs down his hand.

Link's breathing becomes heavy as he clenches his fist; the pain on his face dissipating into his tightly closed hand. He feels more than just the pain jolting through his body; it feels as if all of his nerves and all of his thoughts are centered directly on his hand as it pulses with vigor.

Suddenly, the back of his hand lights up with a bright light, revealing three golden triangles placed in an even pattern across his hand. Link raises his head to look at the monsters with his blue eyes as bright as the mark on his hand, staring adamantly at the monsters.

Without a warning, Link springs from his knees and charges the spear-wielding monsters, shouting a loud cry as he moves. The monsters ready their spears and charge back. The first monster reaches Link and holds its spear out before thrusting it forward, aiming directly at Link's chest. Before the thrust can reach Link, he jumps into the air over top of the spear and stomps down on the middle of it, snapping it in two pieces as it bends against the ground. The broken end remains embedded in the ground as the monster continues to hold onto it. The bladed piece flies into the air behind Link, who spins around to snatch it out of the air before twirling back and thrusting it straight into the monster's neck.

The impaled monster falls to the ground as the second monster readies a swipe with its spear. Link pulls the bladed piece of the spear out of the defeated monster and raises it with both hands to block the incoming swing. The other monster's spear strikes Link's end with a powerful blow, but breaks as it hits the tense piece of wood. Link reaches behind to grab the new broken bladed end. The second monster can only watch with a bladeless stick as Link holds both points in his hands before throwing them, whirling through the air, and straight into the monster's chest.

The second spear-wielding monster falls backwards with a monstrous crash. Link stands tall between the two bodies and turns towards the remaining three monsters, the blood from his cheek dripping slowly off his face.

The monster with the horned helmet gazes back at Link, the slits in his yellow eyes wide with surprise, but only for an instant, as he soon smacks the two bow-wielding monsters and points at Link with his large clawed finger.

The two monsters grab the jagged arrows from their waist-side quivers and place them in their bows which they stretch back and raise to point at Link.

Link lets out a calm breath, still staring intimidatingly at the monsters. As the monsters stretch the strings of their bows back to their limits, Link smoothly bends down and grabs the fire-starting stone from the dead monster near him. With the stone in hand, Link tosses it at the fire between the bow-wielding monsters. The stone ignites the flames sending a cloud of smoke into the air that blinds the monsters, backing them away from Tommy, who still sits trembling on top of Link's shield.

With the monsters distracted, Link races at the children, passing between the monsters to grab Tommy with one hand and his shield with the other. He reaches the other three children who are shaking with fright as well. Link sets Tommy down with the other children and whirls around just in time to raise his shield.

Two arrows slam into the shield, deflecting off the hard surface leaving Link and the children unscathed. Link peers over the shield to observe the monsters, which had recovered from the flash of smoke, and now raise another set of arrows to set in their bows.

Link pushes off from the ground and charges directly at one of the monsters, bashing him with the shield before it can ready another arrow. The monster remains upright, but is stunned as Link rolls off of it to its backside, grabbing an arrow from its quiver and jabbing it in the back. As the beast falls to its knees, the other monster fires another arrow which Link readily deflects. With the arrow deflected, Link slides his hand out of his shield, holding it on its side before spinning it like a disk and sending it smashing into the monster's head.

The monster crashes to the ground leaving the final monster with its horned helmet standing alone behind it. Link glares at the monster, which glares back with furiously shining eyes.

"Revenge," it snarls in a raspy voice.

Link watches as the monster turns its back to him and rumbles its way out of the clearing, disappearing into the dark trees. The defeated monsters lying on the ground start to fade into pitch black figures and soon disappear with a puff of dark smoke.

The light from the thin canopy had become dim with the approaching twilight, leaving Link and his shining hand as the brightest thing in the dark forest clearing.

But with another calm breath, the light from Link's hand vanishes suddenly and the pain from the cut on his cheek returns to sharply jab at his face. The immediate return of the pain drops Link to his knees, forcing loud and heavy breaths of exhaustion from his lungs.

Link holds his hand on his cheek and weakly regains his feet to walk over to the children who all remain huddled around each other in the center of the clearing.

Link falls to his knees in front of the children, still covering his bloody cheek from their sight. "Is everyone alright?" he says softly.

The children all nod their heads while sniffing and fighting back tears.

"You know how to get home right?" Link asks, "I don't know where I am."

The children all nod again.

"Good," says Link. "Now run straight home."

"Please come with us Mr. Link!" Tayce pleads, grabbing Link's damp shirt with a tiny little fist.

Link pats the child's shoulder. "I have to stay to make sure that monster doesn't come back," he says, "You all need to go home right now, okay?"

Tayce releases his grip and looks at his brothers. Teddy and Tison nod at Link and pick their brothers up from their knees and usher them out of the clearing.

As the children start disappearing into the woods, Tommy stops to turn and face Link, offering a faint smile before following his brothers into the woods and back to the village.

Once the boys are completely out of sight, Link lets out a sharp groan and falls down to lie on his back.

Turning his head, he brings his left hand to his face and gazes intently at the back of his hand.

"What…was that?" he whispers to himself.

Watching the back of his hand, Link expects to see the golden triangles and their golden light return to him, but to his surprise, the triangles are nowhere to be found. Instead, the subtle light of two shining spheres immerges from deep within the trees behind his hand. Link's eyes widen as he raises himself up to look into the forest.

It's the bird with its tormenting yellow eyes, it has to be. "Come out of there! Show yourself to me!" Link shouts at the sparkling lights in the woods.

To his surprise, the trees start to rustle and a few leaves fall from above. A large, shadowy figure advances from the pitch black forest to the edge of the clearing.

Link gasps as it comes closer, reaching down to muster any ounce of courage that could still possibly be left inside him.

The creature looms for a moment just beyond the trees before it emerges into the open for Link to finally see.


	6. Chapter 5: Lost

Chapter Five

_**Lost**_

The beads of sweat roll down Link's forehead like freezing snowballs down a mountain. The yellow eyes that had haunted him from the previous night grow larger as they move closer to him, striking deeper in his heart with every step forward.

With a set of thunderous steps, the figure emerges from behind the veil of shadowy tree trunks and low-hanging branches, into the forest clearing. Expecting the creature to reveal its large, menacing wingspan, Link gasps when the shadows draped over the figure lift away to reveal not feathers, but a thick layer of dark brown fur.

The shadows of the woods had exaggerated the figure's true size, for now in the dim light of the clearing, the creature was no taller than Link himself. It stands with a curious slouch; its plump, spherical midsection of light brown fur wobbling slightly back in forth. A set of small ears poke meekly out of the top of the creature's head and twitch with a similar curiosity as displayed in its stance. Yet most curious of all are the creature's eyes which stare out from a patch of pitch black fur. Similar to the yellow eyes rooted in Link's fears, they shine with the same piercing yellow radiance, but their gaze is not of intimidation. Instead they quell the avalanche of sweat from Link's forehead leaving him to stare back with the same peaceful curiosity.

A smooth wind silently passes through the clearing, paying mind to the tense silence that surrounds the staring combatants. The more Link stares into the creature's eyes, the more their yellow glow reflects a different intent than the ones that had been haunting him.

Whether the intent is benevolent or malicious, Link cannot tell.

Link takes a quick glance around him. The bodies of the monsters he had defeated before had vanished into smoke, but the broken ends of their spears remained behind only a few feet away from him. He would most likely be able to grab one of the weapons should this furry thing decide to attack him.

Link takes a step forward.

The creature stands still.

Link creeps with another step towards the nearby spear.

The creature's eyes remain locked in place.

With a deep breath, Link lunges forward and grabs the spear from the grass and points it directly at the creature. "Get out of here! I don't want to use this again."

The yellow eyes widen, but the creature does not move.

Link can feel his head swirling; the cut he had suffered in the battle began to sting sharply, aggravating his frustration with the aloof creature. "Please, just leave me alone" Link says exasperatedly.

"Alone, leaving you? But sir, meeting you I am for the very first time" says the creature with a frivolous giggle.

Link's eyes widen as he loosens his grip on the spear, lowering it slowly to his side. This dumbfounded-looking thing could speak.

"A name, does my sir have?"

A name? "My name is…Link" he says.

"Link!" the creature yells with a high-pitched cackle, throwing its stubby arms out to its sides. The furry creature begins to twirl in slow circles, exposing a short striped tail that spins in a whirl of brown as the creature dances in place.

Link watches in awe as the creature continues to spin while squeaking his name out in a rhythmic tune. The ridiculousness of the dance loosens the tension in his body, relaxing the fear from the yellow eyes.

He shakes his head to snap himself from his surprised daze. Setting the spear down on the ground, Link inches slightly closer to the creature, curious to find out exactly what the thing is.

The creature stops whirling as Link grows close. Its tiny mouth opens wide and its eyes squint with excitement as it jumps forward to tackle Link, throwing him hard to the ground. "A friend you are, finally!" says the creature, "Lonely this place is always. Lonely so."

Link gasps for air as the heavy mass of fur lays on top of him. Even though this thing was most likely not evil, it was still going to find a way to kill him. "You don't want to kill your first friend," Link grunts as he struggles to free himself from the audacious hug, "do you?"

The creature springs to its feet with a sharp gasp. "No, no, no! Killing my friend I do not want, no!" it says.

With a beleaguering pain over his entire frame, Link scrapes himself from the forest ground and up to meet the creature face to face once again. "I gave you my name, can you tell me yours?" he asks.

The creature twists its eyes in confusion, putting a knobby finger to its lip to think. "Name? Name. Name, name, name."

"Link rolls his eyes. "Yes, your name, please."

"No name do I have," the furry creature says with a cackle, "No name do I need."

Link's frustration returned to its icy course through his veins. "No name do you have?" Link says confusedly, realizing he was starting to talk like the stupid thing, "Why don't you have a name?"

The creature raises his arms in the air momentarily and averts its gaze upwards away from Link as if to recall a memory. "Know why, I do not. Remember nothing, I do. Waking up every time in the forest; mushrooms all around myself when I wake. Remember nothing, always…"

Link continues to stand in awe beside the creature, lifting a hand to scratch his forehead as the creature continued to ramble about its unfortunate existence. Link can barely see the creature in front of him, as the light had almost completely cleared out from the clearing. The cool stream of sweat from Link's forehead begins to build up as he realizes that night would soon be upon the forest. Of course, that meant he would be left alone with what were sure to be even deadlier creatures than the fat raccoon that stood before him.

The creature had altered the topic of its monologue to the mushrooms it claims to have woken next to, but nonetheless shows no sign of stopping, prompting Link to casually step away from the creature. Walking backwards, Link watches for any sign that the raccoon notices him abandoning the conversation, but the raccoon's mouth continues to chirp away and its eyes remain diverted to the clearing's ceiling.

Far enough from the creature, Link turns away to face the edge of the clearing. The trees had faded away into the darkness of the night, turning the forest into a looming abyss. Link steps forward and hears the sound of crunching branches and leaves beneath his feet. He reaches a hand in front of him to feel for the nearest branch, but continues to wave around in futility, finding nothing but pitch black space.

Link takes a few more steps forward. The snapping of the forest debris continues for a moment but soon turns to the soft patting sound of grass. The darkness lifts slightly to show a faint image of the grassy ground. With a few more steps, the light grows even more, revealing a corpulent furry figure and a set of large yellow eyes.

"Why leaving your friend are you?" says the furry creature that now stands in front of Link, its eyes clenched in a purposeful squint.

"Well," Link gasps on the cool forest air as he tries to return the question. How did he end up behind the fur ball? "I can't stay in this forest any longer. I have to leave."

The creature's eyes remain squinted, "You tell me not why."

Link sighs, "I didn't come here to make friends with raccoons," he says, his tension building, "I have to figure out how I'm going to get off of this island, but now it's too dark to see anything and I'm not sticking around this forest to be attacked by the next cursed thing that wants to kill me!"

The creature closed its eyes and screeches a high-pitched laugh through the quiet clearing, "Friend I am not to you, but my only friend you are to me. Leaving I will let you not."

"I'd like to see you stop me," says Link firmly. He turns away from the creature and storms away.

The grass soon turns to the crunching debris beneath the trees as the light fades to black, but again the light returns slightly and with it the sound of the soft grass. The creature stands in front of him yet again, this time its eyes wide with excitement.

Link grits his teeth and turns away from the cackling raccoon, running back into the woods, but yet again the furry creature turns up in front of him. It is as if the clearing's edge were an infinite loop; an infinite loop surrounded by a perpetual jeering cackle. "Stop!" yells Link raising his hands to cover his ears, but the raccoon's laugh passes right through Link's attempt to muffle the noise.

With a loud growl, Link lunges for the raccoon, but misses as the large mass of fur jumps nimbly backwards. Hitting the ground hard with his chest, Link brushes his outstretched arm against a piece of wood that had been on the ground. It is one of the broken ends of the monster spears. Grabbing it and lurching to his feet, Link whirls around furiously, looking for the yellow eyes of the raccoon.

The screeching laughter of the raccoon continues to pierce through the clearing, but the creature's yellow eyes are nowhere to be found. Link turns in every direction as best as he can in the absent light, adamantly searching for the maniacal raccoon. As he turns, Link's foot slides across the ground and knocks against something hard. Bending down, he pats around on the grass in an attempt to locate the object, and quickly finds it and raises it close to his face. It is the stone he had thrown to ignite the flames earlier.

Link quickly puts the stone to the wooden stick in his hand and strikes it hard against the bladed end. An orange spark flies off of the tip of the metal and lands on the forest floor, bursting into a bright red flame on a small pile of leaves. The clearing is illuminated in the light of the flame, revealing the laughing raccoon a short distance away.

"What did you do to the forest?!" Link shouts at the creature. The raccoon continues to laugh as it begins to bounce in place.

Link angrily throws the stone at the raccoon but the raccoon again dodges.

Stopping just at the edge of the clearing, the raccoon's pestering laughter finally quiets as the raccoon opens its eyes to gaze at Link. "Lost in the woods, my friend will always be. Forever we will play," says the raccoon. With a quick bounce in place, the raccoon resumes its laughter before scurrying away into the woods.

"No, you're not getting away from me!" screams Link. He takes the spear and holds it into the fire, lighting the wooden end in the flame. The dancing flames from his torched spear bounce their light off the dark trees. With a kick of dirt from the ground he smothers the fire before racing towards where the raccoon had escaped.

With the bright guide in his hand, Link passes out of the clearing and into the forest. As he continues his pursuit of the raccoon, the forest remains intact and the spaciousness of the clearing is soon forgotten as the dark maze of trees closes in on Link.

* * *

><p>Now buried deep in the smothering blackness of night, the trees of the Mysterious Woods seem to have come alive. The light of Link's torch flickers against the jagged bark of the trees, contorting the shadows into hideous faces of terror that loom over Link as he races after the raccoon. The space between the trees is narrow and each hard step Link takes threatens to send him toppling into the darkness never to be found.<p>

The labyrinth narrows further as Link continues his pursuit, but it quickly becomes apparent that the raccoon has long since escaped his reasonable area of pursuit. Link stops to catch his breath on a tree, resting his head on his arm. The light from his torch has diminished through the pursuit, leaving the area lit in a meager glow from a few dying embers.

Link falls to the ground, turning his back to rest against the tree and closing his eyes to escape the terrifying shadows of the woods. What was he doing? Why was he so determined to follow the yellow eyes? At this point, they could lead him to nowhere but his certain doom. Link opens his eyes and nearly shrieks at what he sees before him.

The shadows dancing from the trees had made it seem like each one had a face of its own, but the tree in front of him is cut to take the appearance of a leering face. The sight is startling, but Link raises himself when he catches sight of the candles poised in what looks like the tree's "eyes." Does someone live here?

Link slowly weaves through a few small trees and creeps into the mouth of the mysteriously cut tree. The tree is hollow on the inside and the light is dim, but brighter still than the night-covered woods. A murky, purple haze covers the ground and the walls seem to ooze with a bubbly, green slime. There are shelves attached to the walls adorned with glass bottles of various colors and amongst them crawl small black creatures that look like moving shadows.

Link can feel his own body turning against him, pleading him to turn around and run from this horrifying place, but before he can run, he is stopped by the sight of something moving at the center of the tree. There is a large bronze cauldron where the purple haze appears to be coming from and behind it something lumbers around before popping up from behind the cauldron. "Oh, what a handsome young man."

A very old lady with a long, pointy nose and scraggly, green hair smiles at Link from behind her cauldron. She is wearing a long purple robe complete with a witch's hat of the same color. She brings a large wooden stick from behind the cauldron and dips it into the pot and stirs. "What brings you here, my dear?"

Link remains fixed in fright and can barely utter a gasp to answer the old witch.

"Wait, I know. You've run into the feral beast, haven't you dear?" She says with a toothy grin.

"Rac–coon," Link stutters, "the raccoon, you know of it?"

The witch continues to stir her cauldron. "He's a foul beast, isn't he my dear? He's gone and got you all tied up in the woods. Well, I'm afraid there's not much you can do about that."

Link feels control of his body return and takes a few cautious steps towards the witch. "Do you mean…I'm stuck here? For how long?"

"Most likely…forever."

Link falls to the floor to his hands and knees.

"Don't be like that my dear; that would only be if you stayed here and decided to become my assistant. If you want to break that beast's curse on you, I'm sure there's a way." The witch cackles softly and keeps stirring the cauldron.

Link lifts himself back up and steps up to the cauldron just across from the witch. "What do I have to do?" He says, "Please, I just want to leave this place."

The cauldron bubbles faster as the witch stirs it, the purple liquid inside turning into more of the haze as it bubbles over the sides. The witch takes her one of her bony hands from the stick and holds it over the pot and snaps her fingers. A plume of purple gas bursts out of the cauldron consuming both Link and the witch. Link closes his eyes and waves his hand in front of his face, coughing to avoid breathing in more of the gas. When he opens his eyes, the cauldron is back to its original state, but something has appeared in the witch's hand. A small, leather pouch no bigger than Link's own fist.

"Magic powder. My special little concoction," the witch cackles, "take it my dear."

Link reaches out his hand and grabs the pouch. He holds it in front of his face and opens it to peer inside. With two fingers he reaches inside and lifts a small amount of the power out. The purple substance slides easily out of his fingers, falling back inside the pouch. "What does it do?" Link asks.

"Sprinkle a little on the beast."

"And what will happen?"

The witch stretches her mouth into an evil smile. "It will eliminate your problem."

Eliminate. Link can only assume at what she means by this. "It will kill him. Won't it?"

The witch retains her vile grin.

"Who are you? Why do you live here in this forest?" Link says. Until now, this tree, this witch, and this dark forest had been too frightening to comprehend, and the danger was all but aesthetic. But now, the danger is staring him in the face, literally, and at the same time appears as his only apparent escape route.

"Never mind why I am here my dear," says the witch "but just know that granny Syrup is here to help you…as long as you're willing to do anything to get what you need."

Her words leak with menace and Link feels the pressure of this malevolent tree pushing him to leave. If he is willing to do anything…to get what he needs. What does he need? An escape from the woods? An escape from the yellow eyes? An escape from this entire island?

He starts to back up from the cauldron, still clutching the pouch of magic powder in his hand. The witch remains behind the cauldron, stirring at the purple solution with the evil smile still stretched across her face.

"Thank you," says Link before running out of the dark, hazy tree.

* * *

><p>The forest continues to swell in terror in the darkness of night but Link is ignorant of the blackness that surrounds him. The pouch of magic powder glows in his hand, giving off a dim light that guides him forward, but all Link can do is stare at the pouch and wonder. His escape was lying right in his hands, but with every step he takes with the pouch in his hand, Link's stomach turns in disgust. <em>Killing my friend I do not want.<em> The words echo in his head. Those words were not evil.

Link trudges along the corridor of trees still holding the magic powder in front of him, but the turning of his stomach begins to shift to churns of exhaustion. The light is so dim and Link's eyes begin to fade as the exasperation in his stomach consumes his head. He falls to the floor of the forest and joins the abyss of the nighttime forest.

A sweet aroma brings Link back from the darkness. The scent tingles with the smell of fruit and flowers; it smells like Marin's home. Did someone find him in the woods? Did he finally escape? The blissful aroma gently lifts Link's eyelids and raises him to a sitting position. No, this is not Marin's home. The room looks similar with simple tables, chairs, bookshelves, beds, and windows, and the aroma reminds him of the tropical sea breeze, but the color is tense; not comforting. The windows are all closed and the only light in the room seems to be coming from a set of very dim lamps in each corner of the room. The dim light seems to be in a haze, similar to the tree of the evil witch, but instead of a murky purple, this haze is an almost…seductive, red.

Link gazes around the room for any sign of a person when he feels something smooth run across his neck. Looking to his left, he is startled to find a young woman staring into his eyes. Her eyes are a deep blue like his and not a moment after he notices this does Link find he is unable to look away from the woman. Her hair flows in majestic waves of black around a face of perfectly chiseled marble and over thin shoulders left bare by her dress. The dress echoes with the scarlet haze of the room and is neatly tapered across her thin figure and cut short enough to reveal a set of silk legs. She smiles at him with lips painted the color of the room and the large bow resting on the top of her head. "You look so much more handsome with those pretty blue eyes open, big guy!" she says.

Is this a dream? Link feels his heart pounding inside his chest. No, it feels too real. The woman takes her other hand and brings it to Link's cheek. Her skin is soft, like a silk pillow, and it melts the side of Link's face with its touch. With a smooth motion, she leans in and kisses Link directly on the lips.

Link feels the air in the room turn warm, and the red light from the lamps seems to intensify. His head is lost to the warmth of her lips, setting his thoughts aside in his mind. After holding him for a brief time longer, the woman releases his head and leans back to survey him once more. "You should feel perfect now."

Link utters something unintelligible but he cannot help but agree with her behind his mumbling. All of the pain from his night in the forest is gone, he feels better than he has ever felt since arriving on the island. Wait. The island, the forest, was he still in the forest? He rubs at his eyes and shakes himself out of the red haze that has consumed him in this room. "Who are you?" he says.

"That's not important—"

"No it is important!" Link says, jolting to his feet and taking a step away from the woman. "I've had enough of this place."

The woman crosses her legs and stares up at him with a sly smile. "Now, what place would that be?"

Link presses his fingers to his forehead. "This forest! I want to go back to the village—"

The woman gasps. "The village? But I thought you wanted to leave there too?"

Link takes another step back, widening his eyes at her words. How could she possibly know that? There was no explanation, but with everything that's happened to him in this forest, was it really so hard to believe? "Who are you?" he asks.

The woman slides up from the bed and slinks her way over to Link, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pushing her waist against his. "I'm Tracy. I found you half-dead in the woods, and brought you back here."

Link tries to separate himself from the woman calling herself Tracy, but her grip is soothing and he subsides. The feeling of her touch, it was so calm and peaceful, nearly the opposite of how the witch's dark tree had felt. This woman, standing next to him right now, she clearly has some sort of power beyond his understanding. And not just her, this forest, the raccoon, and the witch too, they all seem so out of place on this island. But, then again, maybe it was he who was really the one out of place?

"I'm sorry." He says, looking at the floor.

Tracy smiles at him. "It's alright big guy, I know my healing techniques might be a little…startling."

Link brings his gaze up to look in her porcelain eyes. "Healing techniques?"

Tracy reaches somewhere behind her and pulls out a small glass container. She holds it in front of Link's face and shakes it slightly, sloshing around an opaque red liquid inside. "Here, take this big guy," she says, placing the bottle in his hand, "my healing techniques just for you, to use whenever you want."

Link takes the bottle and stares at the red liquid inside. A healing potion. If he were to spend any more time in this forest, something like this would keep him alive.

"I know you want to get out of here big guy," says Tracy, "but, at this rate, you might miss something important."

Link raises an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing, nothing!" says Tracy, waving a hand in the air. "But…" Tracy says, taking that hand and wrapping it around Link to embrace him. "…if you stick around, maybe I can tell you." She says with a devious grin.

Link stands motionless, staring into her tempting eyes. The red haze in the room appears to darken. No. He can't stay here; he needs to find his way out. Link pushes himself out of Tracy's grasp and backs up to the door. "Thank you," he says before walking out of the red, hazy room.

* * *

><p>The forest seems no different. It's still a black as the moment the last rays of sunlight left the clearing. There is no telling how long he's been trapped inside these woods, but the thought is in the back of Link's rejuvenated mind as he continues to trek through the woods.<p>

The two mysterious women he has bumped into are the thoughts that race in the front of his mind. One felt so evil, the other so pure, but both of them were equally as mysterious. One gave him magic powder, meant to give him his freedom by eternally sealing another's. The other gave him magic potion, meant to deny him an easy escape but keep his hope alive. What could the purpose of all of this be?

Link does not know. He was shipwrecked, trapped on an island. Then he was tormented, by children, by eyes. Now he is lost; lost in a maze of trees, thought, and endless mystery. The only possible way he can escape it, is to find the raccoon. But what would he do if he found it?

Link suddenly stops his thoughts when the light from the magic pouch dims more than usual. He had spent so long in the forest that he had gotten used to the light bouncing off of the trees in front of him. But now, the space in front of him is empty, and in the faint light, he recognizes the space as the clearing. He had found his way back to where this nightmare had begun. The light from the pouch is too dim to see the entire clearing, but Link is sure it is the place.

He takes a few steps forward, kicking the ground in front of him. His foot knocks against something hard on the ground. It is the fire-starting stone he had thrown at the raccoon. Yes, this is the place. Link takes a few more steps forward, the soft grass soothing the soles of his boots. He takes another step, but the feeling of grass is replaced by a soft splash. Link takes the magic powder in his hand and holds it close to the ground where his boot came to rest. He lifts his boot and finds a small puddle of red covering the grass. Blood?

Link darts his eyes in front of him, holding the pouch out to spread the light as far as he can. A shadow rises up from the ground in front of him. It's quite large, and appears to be a large rock, but Link remembers the clearing being completely free of rocks of any size. He takes a step towards it. It does not move.

He reaches the shadow and holds the pouch directly above it. In the dim light, the black shadow crawls away and is replaced by brown fur matted with a thick red liquid. Link races around to the other side of the object and gasps when he sees what it truly is.

The raccoon lies in front of him, its yellow eyes dim with sorrow, shooting directly into the ground. The light reveals three arrows lodged in the creature's side, blood leaking gently from the wound. "Friend. Found," the creature says meekly.

Friend? Found? Yes. He has found the raccoon. Link looks at the magic powder in his hand. This is it; this is his chance to get out!

_Sprinkle a little on the beast._

Link reaches in the pouch and pulls out a handful of the magic powder. The light from the powder reflects in Link's eyes. Looking down on the helpless creature, his eyes are ablaze with a violent purple hue.


	7. Chapter 6: Adrift

Chapter Six

_**Adrift**_

On an autumn evening in Hyrule market, where the sky was a blend of dim orange and whispering purple, Link stood triumphantly over a quivering heap that lay on the cold cracked street. The black and orange lanterns celebrating the festival of the fall danced between jagged grins and blanketed the startled and frightened boy that lay at Link's feet. There was a casual market town clamor whisking through the air, but the attentions of the adults were spread amongst the colorful stalls, grabbed by the tantalizing smells of the festival cooking, and pried far away from the small crowd of children that circled a predator and its prey.

"Get up, loser!" The jeers of the audience were uplifting for Link, a satisfying kind of reward for a noble victory.

The lump on the ground wiggled slightly, his hands pushing meagerly against the ground in a feeble attempt to stand up. Link smiled at the boy's face, a pudgy, leaking mess with a lump, recently formed, over his left eye. What a pitiful sight, he thought. How dare he insult the chosen hero?

As the large boy struggled to deflect the mocking of the crowd, Link slowly gazed up at the castle which provided the backdrop for his triumph. He felt a twinge of fear at what Zelda would think of him, demeaning another child as he had, but even if she were here to gaze in horror at his actions, he wouldn't feel sorry for the boy. He liked it. He enjoyed this feeling of power_._

The corpulent child had risen to his knees as Link returned his gaze to the arena. His face was weak with low-slung eyebrows and an even smear of tears across each cheek. "He hasn't learned his lesson, Link!" the crowd's voices turned violent, "hit him again!"

Link felt a surge of delight course through his hand and clenched it into a fist, grinding it in the palm of his other hand. He felt the power run up his hand and through his arm. He took a step forward as he tensed his shoulder and bent his arm, packaging the rage in his hand into a swelling force.

"Stop it!" yelled a meek cry from outside the savage ring. A small girl plunged through the spectators behind the large boy and leaped upon him, wrapping what little she could of herself around the limp target.

The cheers of the supporting children were cut off with a collective gasp, a cry too meager to stop a powerful strike. Link's fist landed clearly across the small freckled cheek of the girl as she held the bulky, shaking boy.

The power in his hand stung immediately with the pain of regret. The pain was fierce, with each nerve a lightning storm of reverberating force.

A dull bulging sensation fills Link's palm and as he peers at his hand he sees the glowing purple pouch of magic powder shaking loosely in his outstretched arm. Hyrule market town fades to black and the eerie yellow light of the lanterns is replaced by the deathly purple aura of the powder.

Link looks down where there is only a furry lump staring back at him with dim yellow eyes. The pain in his arm tears at his composure as if he had just gone back to that night many years ago. His spine tingles, his eyes begin to leak small tears that shine glumly in the purple light.

He sees the ragged face of the large boy appear on the pitiful creature below him and the red cheek of the girl lying cold on the stone pavement flashes behind his eyes. Link shuts his eyes tight and reaches deep beyond the blackness. He digs within for an image, any image, of Zelda, but her face remains turned away.

With a loud cry, Link pulls his arm back, away from the body of the raccoon, and fights through the mounting pain to toss the pouch of magic powder across the dark clearing. It sails through the endless night leaving a cascading trail of sparkling purple in a clean arc before exploding into a nova of swirling fluorescent dust.

The tight pain in his arm and hand fades into the shadows as Link falls to his knees in front of the creature. He places a hand on the creature's body, his hand matting the cold wet fur. He feels around his pants and pulls out a small bottle of red liquid. Tracy's healing technique. For use whenever he wanted. Link wiggles the cork from the bottle and holds it above the raccoon, where three arrows remain lodged in its side. With a sigh that sinks his heart from his chest, Link tilts the bottle to the side, releasing a slim stream of the red medicine right onto the creature's wound.

He would be trapped forever.

A sharp bubbling sound erupts from the creature's wound as the red medicine pours into the gash. The arrows lodged in the wound slowly tip and eventually fall to the soaked grass, crumbling into black ash. Link jumps to his feet as the last drop is poured and the creature rolls upright. With a loud and jovial cry, the creature spins in place before darting around to each corner of the clearing. The display manages to lift Link's heart slightly as the sight of the revived creature reminds Link of their first encounter, a time that felt like ages ago. But Link's eyes find themselves diverted from the display after a short while. He surveys the clearing: still dark, and still ensnared in a nightmarish curse.

Suddenly, Link feels a pair of arms slide quickly around his waist, grasping him in a tight embrace. He chokes on his own fear of the attack, struggling to turn his neck to see who the owner of the arms is. But as soon as his hands touch the smooth skin of the arms, and the darkness of the clearing begins leaking a dim red light, he knows exactly who it is.

The arms slide away from Link and he immediately spins around to face the woman, but all that he finds is a thin cloud of red smoke. He feels a light tap on his shoulder, "Gotcha, big guy," she says with a giggle.

Link turns back around to find Tracy, her feet turned childishly inward, in all of her scarlet beauty. He breathes out heavily as her distinct sweet aroma fills his nostrils and he remembers the feeling of relief and safety he had felt in her presence before. But her powerful influence was nothing to him at this moment. He could feel as safe and secure as he could ever want, but it would be in the confines of the woods forever.

"You're looking rather rough, big guy," Tracy's voice squeaks with the vigor of an upbeat youth.

Perhaps he did, but what did it matter?

"Hey I know," Tracy says, "Why don't you take a drink of the potion I gave you?"

Link chokes back a scream at the sound of her words. The raccoon continues to dance in the background singing its own little tune.

Tracy skips forward and grabs Link's shoulders. "Silly me, you already used it, didn't you?" Her face twists into a playful grin.

The pain in his arm begins to creep back to Link as he watches her tormenting face.

Tracy smoothly steps forward, pushing her body against Link's and wrapping her arms around him. "I'm so happy you did."

Link feels his heart twisting inside his chest at her demeanor, but before he can release the rage, a small twinkle of light catches his eyes. Up above, at the ceiling of the clearing, the bud of light multiplies in a small array of tiny star-like specks. The dark, shadowy lumps covering the clearing begin to gain definition as their black sheathes fade away to reveal the pale green veins of the leaves. The feeling of Tracy wrapped around him is lost to Link as he watches the light return to the trees, their leaves illuminated and their crooked branches waking up from their nightmares. In the distance, beyond the trees, the endless sea of black is replaced by the colorful trail of the forest path.

Tracy pushes the tips of her toes, raising her mouth to Link's ear. "Congratulations, big guy," she whispers before placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

Link coughs out a laugh. Somehow, the curse was finally gone. He looks around the clearing, delighted to see the colors returned to the grass and crumbled leaves on the ground and as his gaze washes over the area, he notices yet another lump lying conspicuously on the ground. Link raises an eyebrow. The clamor of the raccoon had ceased.

Separating himself from Tracy, Link dashes across the clearing to the heap on the other side. Link approaches the body, finding its rather protrusive stomach bobbing up and down in a peaceful rhythm. But the brown fur that once covered the creature is gone, replaced by pale, white skin dotted with tiny strands of black hair. Link freezes in place. The yellow eyes that had once been hidden behind the dark patch of fur are now closed, sleeping peacefully as regular breaths whisk the hairs of a thick black mustache back and forth. The curious raccoon had left behind its true form: Tarin.

Link feels a powerful hit to his stomach as the sight of Marin's father raises bumps on his skin. He closes his eyes and breathes heavily, the blackness behind his eyelids turning a menacing purple. Link spins around to look back at Tracy, but she and her scarlet glow are gone. The space where she once stood starts to glow purple and suddenly a puff of violet smoke erupts from nothing. Link shields his eyes from the sudden flash and when he lowers his hand, the old lady from the gaping, hollow tree stands within a haze of purple smoke, leaning on a crooked wooden staff.

With a wave of her hand, the pouch of magic powder Link had tossed across the clearing rises into the air and darts into her hand, bringing behind it a swirling trail of the purple, sparkling magic powder. The powder collects neatly in the pouch. The old lady Syrup stretches her mouth into a boney grin, still holding the magic powder aloft.

"I would hang on to this my dear," she cackles, "There's more than one way to save yourself."

Syrup tilts her hand and drops the magic powder at the base of her staff. Flashing Link another dreadful smile, she twirls her cape around her body, cloaking her entire being. A puff of smoke similar to Syrup's entrance appears beside the old lady in a scarlet flash. Immediately, the sweet aroma returns to Link as Tracy appears once more. Link can see a small tear trickle from each of her eyes. Tracy reaches behind her and pulls out another small glass bottle of red liquid and places it beside the magic powder.

With a weary wave of her hand, Tracy turns slightly towards Syrup. "Good luck, big guy," she sniffles. Syrup reveals one of her ragged and thin hands and snaps her fingers. In a final flash of light and puff of smoke, the two mysterious women vanish behind a veil of purple and red.

Link stands in the quiet clearing with only Tarin at his feet, dumbfounded by the display of the old frightening witch and the sweet young girl. The witch's final words echo in his mind. He does not know what she meant, nor does he expect to ever know. It is not important now.

Link hears a stir at his feet and turns to find Tarin sitting up, scratching his thick head of black hair and gaping with a massive yawn. Tarin blinks his small eyes several times and groggily gazes around the forest. He spots Link looking down at him with a troubled face. "Link!" he bellows, "Have you come ta pick mushrooms with me?"

Link groans inside. The large, jolly man and his equally massive personality had not grown on him.

Tarin wiggles to his feet and dusts himself off, knocking small branches and crumpled leaves off in a cloud of dirt. He pulls his shirt down which had rolled up over his rotund midsection. "The last thing I kin remember is bitin' into a big juicy toadstool" he says.

Link rolls his eyes as Tarin plops himself back on the ground.

"Then I had the darndest dream" he says looking around the clearing once more with a puzzled expression, "I was a raccoon!" He looks back up at Link and smiles, "Yeah! Sounds strange but it sure was fun."

Fun? Link sighs. "Will you be going back to the village now?"

Tarin winces as he rubs his back, "Nah, I'm thinkin' I need a rest here for a bit." He rubs his eyes with his large hands and stretches back into a loud yawn that rustles the leaves of the trees. "You go on home…" he says softly as he falls onto his back and into a deep sleep.

Link shivers and shakes his head. It was long past time for him to go. Maybe not to the home he really wanted to find, but some place that would actually get him there.

Link rustles his hair with his hand and shakes his head, casting off what was left of the fear and confusion that had plagued him throughout his entire stay in the forest.

He peers off between the trees, finding the lightest path that carried off into the distance. He picks up his shield from the center of the clearing and straps it onto his back. The pouch of magic powder and bottle of medicine lay next to each other just a few steps away. Link stares at them in silence. After a few minutes, he picks up both of them before walking out of the circle of trees.

* * *

><p>Under the curse, the forest had become a nightmare, and for each step Link took he had felt like he was plunging deeper and deeper into an inescapable hole. Even when he had first entered the forest to chase after the mischievous young boys, the forest seemed to exude mystery around every rock and tree.<p>

But now as he walks through the forest with the nightmare far behind, the trees seem to point their branches ahead of him and wave him on from behind. Small animals peek out from various holes and hiding spots to analyze him as he marches on. The chirping of birds and the snapping of twigs returns Link's heart to its rightful place. Soon, the crumbled mixture of brown, orange, and red leaves gives way to soft green grass and the trees part to reveal the edge of the forest.

Link cannot hold back a smile. But he stops his rising happiness as he surveys the open area in front of him. He had expected to emerge with the familiar houses of the village to greet him, but in front of him now is a rising, rugged landscape. The small, grassy hills near the forest slowly rise and turn to sharp cliffs that extend far into the distance until they are cut off by the jagged expanse of a towering mountain range.

The thought of when he first emerged from Marin's home returns to Link. He remembers noticing the mountains from the village, but also that they were in the opposite direction from the beach. Link grabs his forehead and lets out a frustrated breath. He had come out on the other side of the woods.

Link sits down on the soft grass and inspects the mountains in front of him. He cannot make out the finer features of the mountains as they seem to meld together in a foggy blue shadow from their distance. Yet, Link finds their sheer height something to marvel at, something that reminded him of the mountains of Hyrule.

Did he really need to go back to the village? Maybe they weren't the only village on the island, and someone else could help him find a way out.

Link stretches back, propping himself up with his hands. The cool grass soothes his hands under the shade of the trees. Looking again at the mountains, he notices something peculiar about one of them. Despite being so far away, Link can tell this is the tallest of all the mountains, but it is the crest of the mountain that catches his eye. He leans forward and squints hard at the mountain. Just in view in front of the distant haze, Link makes out the shape of a giant object covered in large red dots sitting at the top of the mountain.

Is that…an egg?

The trees behind Link start to rustle louder and faster than from the slow breeze that had been shifting them. Link turns around and watches for something to emerge. A branch snaps from within the forest and a fluttering of wings splits the quiet wind. A large, brown owl with a unique zigzag pattern on its wings flies out of a tree and lands on a branch protruding from the forest.

Link starts to look back to the egg on the mountain but stops as the shadows move from the eyes of the owl, allowing the sun to reflect a piercing yellow glint, staring directly at him.

Link's eyes widen. Here they are. These are the yellow eyes. He stares back at them, peering deep within their pits for answers.

A cool wind swirls over Link and the owl, casting waves over the thick grass and whispering quietly between their standoff.

"I have been watching you boy," the owl says in a low, calm voice, "But, you already know this."

Link drops his mouth slightly. The owl's words ensnare his body in chills. Not only is this owl capable of speech, but it is brazen enough to torment him.

"You intrigue me," the owl hoots, "A lost castaway from a faraway place." The owl shifts its wings closer to its narrow beak as a human might clench their chin when thinking. "Could you really be…?"

"I don't care about what you think of me," Link shouts. He rises from the grass and takes a few steps towards the perched owl. "I just want to go home."

"That may be the problem…"

"What problem?!" Link tosses his arms up in frustration as the owl calmly strokes its beak.

"The golden mark on the back of your hand."

Link peers at the back of his hand. The golden triangle barely visible, but he knows it is there. "What do you know of this?" Link says with disgust. You have no idea.

The owl hoots softly closing its eyes, almost sorrowfully. "I believe it is why you are here."

Link scoffs at the owl's remark, crossing his arms and turning away to look at the mountains.

"Do you see the Egg perched high above this island?" the owl says, "That is where the Windfish, guardian of Koholint, slumbers."

Link looks at the giant egg once again, his arms still crossed. "Why should I care?"

"You will never be able to leave this island without his aid."

Determined not to make eye contact with the owl, Link digs his feet into the ground. None of this makes any sense. What is it about this island that makes him feel like a caged animal? If he washed ashore on this island, he could sure enough sail away from it. Why could he not just go home?

"If you want the aid of the Windfish, then you must heed my advice." The owl flutters its wings and swoops down from its perch to flap steadily behind Link. "Meet me on the Toronbo shores. Your journey must begin again at sea."

With a heavy gust from its wings, the owl flies up and away over the woods. Link cannot help but watch the owl from the corner of his eye.

Link sighs and lets his arms unfold. What choice did he have? As the owl disappears over the trees, Link walks back into the mysterious woods.

* * *

><p>The return journey through the woods seems like only a fleeting dream for Link that is finally broken by the sight of Mabe village under a swirl of twilight sky. The tiny houses are lit up with candles filling the windows with yellow light and puffs of smoke sway out of the chimneys. As happy as Link is to see the village at his front with the forest fading away at his back, his stomach sinks at the thought of the villagers showering him with their relief for his safety and their graciousness for the safety of the quadruplets. He has to hear the owl out before being ensnared by the villager's arms.<p>

Link slips through the village, tiptoeing past each house after checking every window for even the slightest movement or sound of conversation. He heads down the hill past to the cliff and down the steep incline, sliding behind the last house in the village before the sands of the beaches. Link takes the shadowed route around the house, but before he can pass the last window he darts to the ground at the sound of voices.

"Papa said he saw him while he was collecting mushrooms. He should have come back by now."

"It's alright sweetheart. If what my boys said was true, I believe that boy is doing alright."

The voices are unclear and muffled by the walls but Link still groans silently at the words. He crawls forward and stands at the edge of the house. The front door opens around the corner and someone steps out. Link carefully peers around the corner and finds Marin standing with her head down. Her face is covered by her red hair, but Link cannot help feeling sorrow at the sight of just her stance.

As soon as Marin walks around the other corner of the house, back to the village, Link races down the hill and onto the sandy beaches of Toronbo shores.

Link remembers his visit to the shores when he had first awakened. In the broad daylight, the shores were bright and blinding, and he had been too occupied at a potential remnant of his ship to take them in. But under twilight, Link finds the shores calm and peaceful. Perhaps this was simply because he was closest to where he had come from?

Wading through the soft sand, Link navigates the small maze of palm trees and rocks to reach the water's edge. He gazes around at the purple and red sky and at the crest of the palm trees, watching for the owl. He steps from the edge of the tide and onto the wet sand until the water wraps evenly around his feet. He picks up a stone from beneath his foot and juggles it in his hand before tossing it as far as he can out to sea. Where would the stone end up? Would the waves carry it away or would it sink to the bottom never to be seen again?

Just beyond the splash in the water, where the stone had turned over its fate, a dark object rises slowly from the water and grows larger as the waves carry it closer to shore. Link offers the object only a fraction of his attention. A palm leaf most likely. He turns around to scan the palm trees again, but the owl remains absent.

Link turns back to look at the object and finds it floating further to his right but closer to the shore. The shadows formed by the distant sun have faded around the drifting object and Link notices a silver glint wink at him from the last light of the retiring sun. He takes as step closer to the object as it nears the shore. Link feels his heartbeat pick up as the mysterious object floats closer and the outline of the figure comes into view. It is the figure of a body.

Splashing the rolling tide aside, Link races across the shore to the body as it catches the sand and stops. Link stumbles in a heavy clump of sand just before reaching it and falls flat on the ground. He scrambles on his hands and knees until he is directly over the castaway.

In one hand, the body clutches the handle of a gleaming sword and in place of the other a sharp hook latches onto the blade of the sword.

Link's face falls into horror at the sight of the Captain, soaking wet, and silent as a skeleton resting on the banks of a nightmare.


End file.
